Halo: Mass Revelation
by REDSTORMAR555
Summary: Forty-Nine years have passed since the end of the Human-Covenant War. Humanity has reached new heights with help from the United Orion Systems. They've made many new friends, but when they find a relic in the icy moons of Harvest and an allies colony, the galaxy changes forever. And a dark secret will be reveled that will start a war that could tear the galaxy apart.
1. Bio

**I'm trying a Halo/Mass Effect story, but I wanted to introduce two races. Each don't exists, but I wanted to introduce them. And there is a reason too it. I've never seen anyone do this, but I'm going to try it. This is general knowledge of the race; Airecantians.**

* * *

**Airecantian Empire**

Faction Theme:

"_We are Airecant!_"

* * *

Economy: Grade A

Type of Government: Constitutional Monarchy

Founding Document: Revolutionists Doctrine

Constitution: The People's Monarch

Head of State: Emperor

Head of Government: Emperor

Commander-in-Chief: Emperor

Executive Branch: Council of Highers

Legislative Branch: Council of the People

Judicial Branch:

Planetary Courts

Military Tribunals

* * *

Capital: Airecant

Official Languages: Airian/ Galactic Standard

Currency: Capital

State Religious Body: None; religious freedom

**National Holidays**:

Foundation of the Empire: March 1

End of the Belkan War: December 25

Emperor's birthday: Varies upon current Emperor

Emperor and Empress marriage: Varies upon current Emperor

Anthem: _Survive for Tomorrow_

Date of Establishment: 24 CE

Date of Dissolution: N/A

Affiliation: United Orion Systems (UOS)

**Biology**

Appearance matches that of Humans. They do, however, grow much taller, at least seven feet, with strength on par with UNSC Spartans. They posses two hearts, much like Sangheili. When born, they grow quickly, taking only two months to grow into young adults, though they still require training and learning for another three years.

Due to the large amount of radiation they absorbed during the Belkan War, a mutation in their genes have given them the ability to live up to five thousand years compared to their seven hundred years before the war.

**The Executive**

The Empire is led first and foremost by the Emperor. This individual serves numerous roles; they are the head of state, the head of government, the leading figure within the executive office and also the Empire's commander-in-chief. In essence he is the ultimate authority within the Empire and as such is entrusted with an inordinate amount of power, influence and responsibility. But for the Airecantians there is no issue with this, for they had agreed to it over two thousand years ago.

In order to assist the Emperor in running the Empire, there exists the Council of Highers. As the individual leaders of various Empire colonies, the Highers, or 'Lords' as they are frequently called, are greatly respected. Four times a month each and every Higher is required to meet, whether in person or holographically (as is preferred, for security reasons) with the Emperor to discuss the state of affairs. The Council of Highers can over rule the Emperor on policies they may not agree on.

**The Legislature**

The legislative branch of the Empire is composed of the Council of the People. These individuals diverge from Empire colonies just as Highers and are respected by all. The number of representatives in the Council of the People varies depending in colony's population. The Council of the People meets whenever a potential new law is brought forward – this can be done by any Vassal, as they are called – and is then discussed and voted on; this discussion generally includes the Emperor and the Council of Highers, though they are not allowed to vote on such issues. If the Emperor vehemently disagrees with the decision of the Council of the People, he can veto it, though this has only happened twice since the establishment of the Empire.

**The Judiciary**

The Empire's judiciary is split into two court systems; planetary courts and military tribunals. For any crimes that are not related the planetary courts have jurisdiction. These courts are comprised of individuals known as Alidans, the ten major leaders of the Empire who's authority is second only to the Emperor and his family. A typical court consists of two who rotate every three months. Their authority is not to be questioned and they may sentence how they please. If a crime is committed in Empire space, the criminal and the case itself are transferred to the closest planet. If a crime occurs outside of Empire space and the criminal extradited back to the Empire, the case will be heard in the planetary courts on Airecant.

Any case involving members of the military, or military actions, are dealt with by the military tribunals. These consist of three Fleetmasters, chosen at random, and the Grand Fleetmaster who acts as an Arbitrator for the duration of the case. As with the planetary courts these matters are left totally down to the tribunal. They can mete out any punishment or sentence they see fit, including demotions, and are capable of having the Emperor removed from their position if necessary.

* * *

**History**:

**2000 BCE**: Emperor Kawlenga Galah controls half of Medieval Airecant.

**800 BCE**: Airecantians discover slipspace schismatics, jump starting a space age.

**795 BCE**: Airecantians reach their first moon Kirin, named after the ancient Airecantian goddess of wealth. The moon is large enough to support a breathable atmosphere.

**732 BCE**: Airecantians have established colonies on all planets in their home system.

**727 BCE**: A coup overthrows the Republic and establish a tyrannical government known as the 'Dictators'. They begin their campaign by building up their military and spreading across more systems for resources. At the notion of other life in the galaxy, they summonsed they needed a large military to defend themselves.

**1 BCE**: The 'Dictators' and Revolutionist begin the Aire Civil War.

**23 CE**: Aire Civil War ends with Revolutionist victorious. The 'Dictators' and ten billion Airecantian supporters leave Airecantian territory.

**24 CE**: The Airecatian Empire is founded. Qwalin Keresk is crowned the first Emperor of Airecant and her colonies.

**559 CE**: Airecantian colony Presiua is attacked by Airecantian 'Dictator' supporters who now call themselves Tallorians. Attack begins the Belkan War.

**564 CE**: Emperor Qwalin is killed during the second battle of Presiua. His son, Alito Keresk is crowned Emperor at the age of ten standard years.

**1059 CE**: The Tallorians are defeated during the Tentues Blitz, the largest and bloodiest battle in the Belkan War and Airecantian history.

**1287 CE**: Norlan is rendered lifeless when the Empire detonate a Nova-Class nuclear device in the planet's orbit, destroying the Tallorian force occupying the Fortress World.

**1559 CE**: Battle of Instillation 07. Tallorians find Halo and prepare to fire it. The battle ends in a Airecantian victory with 85% of the Tallorian navy destroyed.

**1559 CE**: End of the Belkan War.

**1560 CE**: Alito Keresk marries Mayrkial Danal.

**1562 CE**: Kilel Keresk is born.

**1586 CE**: Scial Keresk is born.

**2555 CE**: Airecantians make First Contact with Covenant Revolutionists and provide assistance during the 'Great Schism'.

**Emperor Kawlenga Galah**

Kawlenga Galah was the king of one of the many city-states that controlled Airecant. His tactical knowhow and brutal efficiency in war granted him half of the planet itself. Unfortunately, his three sons wanted the thrown, and this led to Kawlenga becoming poisoned. At his death, his sons battled over his empire, tearing it apart.

**The Aire Civil War**

The Aire Civil War started on 1 CE when revolutionist attacked the Airecantian homeworld. The 'Dictaors' responded with the destruction of a revolutionist colony. Outraged and finally out of patience, billions of others rose up, adding even more fuel to the fire. After twenty two years, the revolutionist pushed the 'Dictators' out of Airecantian territory, over ten billion Airecantians following them.

**Belkan War (Thousand Year War)**

Perhaps the most devastating war fought by Airecantains, this war started on 559 CE, when the 'Dictators' attacked the colony Presiua, an Empire 'Garden' world, 'Garden' being its actual term. The 'Dictators', however, now called themselves Tallorians, the Airian word for 'different', refusing to retain the name Airecantian as they no longer saw honor in the name, nor did they respect it. The battle ended with Presiua under Tallorian control.

Qwalin Keresk, the current emperor, sent a force to retake the planet, which took five years at the cost of his life. His son, Alito Keresk, was then crowned Emperor at only ten standard years.

The war continued for centuries, neither side gaining an advantage until the battle of Dagal. The battle was the single largest loss in Airecantian history, the Empire losing nearly five fleets: over twenty two million vessels and trillions of men. At that, the Empire was on a slow retreat, doing anything in their power to slow down the Tallorians.

Then the Tentues Blitz came.

On 1287 CE, the Tallorians were able to pinpoint the general area of the Airecantian Capital and sent the largest attack force in Aire and Tallorian history to take the entire Panthalassa Nebula. The Blitz, contrary to its name, lasted two months until the Tallorians were pushed out of the nebula. The battle had been costly on both sides, with dead in the trillions, over a hundred million ships destroyed, three moons rendered lifeless, and Airecant itself devastated. Despite the devastation, the Empire had come out on top, with slightly less losses then the Tallorians. This battle was the turning point in the war.

The war lasted five more centuries until the Tallorians found Instillation 07, one of the many Halo rings the Forerunners had created to purge all life in the galaxy. The Tallorians intended to use the ring their last trump card, but it failed; the Empire sent what was left of their fleet to take the ring from the Tallorians. As ground forces began engaging each other, the Flood, a parasitic organism that can control lifeless of living bodies, broke out of containment. Empire forces were able to control the flow of the Flood, cornering them and glassing them. At this a Forerunner AI called 2395 Reverent Warrior introduced itself to the Airecantians, urging them to destroy the ring. After destroying the Tallorian navy in orbit, the Empire sent a slipspace bomb at the array, tearing the station into pieces.

A day later, the Tallorians had halted all engagements with the Empire. Their colonies were now in revolt, tired of fighting a war they knew they were losing. The Tallorians had sent what was left of their military to maintain peace, but they ultimately failed. The Tallorian Empire fell, with four separate factions fighting for control of it's remains.

The Belkan War was over.

**The Great Reconstruction**

Though the Belkan War was over, Emperor Keresk understood the gravity of the situation. The Empire had been devastated by this millennia long war, with trillions dead, hundreds of colonies destroyed, a government that was in tatters; it was using all its power to keep itself functioning at the point.

Emperor Keresk started with the rebuilding of colonies that had survived the war, aiming to give Airecantians jobs and making these planets livable again. Planets that were completely destroyed were left for later. Once he had a stable enough economy, he put another plan in motion.

The population had been steadily climbing after the war had ended, but Keresk took it to the extreme. He encouraged Airecantian couples to reproduce, giving them a certain amount of incentives on how many children they had.

The Empire's population skyrocketed in the coming years.

As he continued to rebuild the Empire's infrastructure, Keresk began building up the military. After the war, the military had sat, silently protecting colonies, but the strain was all too clear. Technology was in desperate need of repairs and upgrades, training could not be considered training anymore. The Empire's military was nothing more then a large collection of rundown ships and undisciplined soldiers.

That didn't last long.

Within ten years, the Empire military was using updated equipment and soldiers were now properly trained, disciplined, and brutal. Though their strength was not what it was before, it was none the less, better.

Emperor Keresk was successful in his reconstruction. By 2312 CE, the Empire was entering a new hight of power. Their military was nearly four times larger then it had been at the beginning of the war, their population in the mid trillions, and with over five thousand colonies, with more always being established, they were in a golden age. That golden age continues even into 2555.

**Great Schism**

The Empire first made contact with the Covenant on 2555 CE, during a conflict known as the 'Great Schism'. They discussed the situation, learning about the Human race, who were similar physically on the inside and outside. This startled the Airecantians, knowing that their was a race who were similar to them in almost every way. When told of the Human-Covenant War and the Great Schism, the Empire decided to help. They had taken pity on the Covenant Revolutionaries, as their situation was similar to the Empire's during the Belkan War. Within four years, the Empire and New Covenant had destroyed the Loyalists, and they began waring against each other. The war was later renamed the Coalition-Covenant War.

The New Covenant offered the Empire a chance to join, and they excepted overwhelmingly. They later became members of the UOS; the United Orion Systems.

* * *

**Navy**

The navy of the Airecantian Empire is extremely formidable. Despite the leaps made by the United Nations Space Command, Sangheili Republic, Council of Five, and the Allied Confederacy in recent years the Empire still accounts for the largest single portion of the UOS joint fleet and thanks to nearly a millennia of reconstruction and improvement before its introduction to the Galactic stage, as well as their unfortunately violent history, they posses some of the largest and most powerful ships in the UOS.

An important part of the Empire Navy's success comes from the sheer number and size of vessels they bring to engagements. Fleet sizes range from hundreds to millions depending on the battle's importance, with ship sizes ranging from twelve, twenty eight, and one hundred forty four kilometers in length.

**Officers**:

**Grand Fleetmaster** - Commander of all Fleets

**Fleetmaster** - Command a number of Fleets

**Supreme Commander **- One for each Fleet

**Fleet Commander** - Leads separate Flotillas of a Fleet

**High Admiral **- Leads smaller Flotillas

**Shipmaster** - Leads individual ship

**Enlisted**:

**Division Captain**

**Senior Serviceman**

**Serviceman First Class**

* * *

**First Ten Fleets**

**Ilstro щиold (_Our Shield_)**

Commanding Officer: - Emperor Keresk -

Area of Operation: Panthalassa Nebula (Home Nebula)

Resources: Very High

**Ilstro меærd _(Our Sword_)**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operation: _Alpha Capital_

Resources: High

**Third Defense Fleet**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operatio: Inner Colonies

Resources: Moderate

**Fourth Defense Fleet**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operation: Inner Colonies

Resources: Moderate

**Fifth Defense Fleet**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operation: Inner Colonies

Resources: Moderate

**Sixth Defense Fleet**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operation: Outer colonies

Resources: Moderate

**Seventh Defense Fleet**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operation: Outer Colonies

Resources: Moderate

**Eighth Exploration Fleet**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operation: Frontier

Resources: Moderately High

**Ninth Response Fleet**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operation: None (Rapid Response)

Resources: High

**Tenth Response Fleet**

Commanding Officer: - Classified -

Area of Operation: None (Rapid Response)

Resources: High

**Ship Classes**

**Battle Station**:

Emperor-Class

Procurement: High

**Battle Platform**:

Leviathan-Class

Procurement: High

**Assault Ship**:

Fortress-Class

Procurement: High

**Heavy Battleship**:

Hunter-Class

Procurement: High

Naming Conventions: None (Shipmaster's decision)

**Army**

Trained extensively – every Airecantian serves their entire lives in the service, mainly in the military, while others are trained extensively if not joining the military, at the age of three. All Airecantians are soldiers first, ready to fight and die for the Empire. Soldiers in the Empire Army are known for being devastating in their assaults and are compared to immovable objects in their defense.

The Empire's Army is best known for their brute force when attacking enemy forces, preferring to overpower opponents and overwhelm apposing forces with their greater numbers. When bogged down, they switch tactics, either finding ways around an enemy, or bomb positions with artillery or orbital strikes. In some cases, Airecantian forces suicide charge heavily fortified positions with thousands of troops, intent on eventually forcing the other to retreat.

When put on the defensive, they hold positions until it is curtain they cannot hold it any longer, in which they destroy anything that may give the opposing force an advantage. Records from the Belkan War state that the Empire military frequently burned entire planets to deny them to the Tallorians, either through glassing, shattering, or Nova-Class nuclear ordnance. The Empire Army has many saying, two of which are:

"There's no such thing as an Airecantian prisoner."

"Airecantians don't run from overwhelming force; they meet it head on."

**Hierarchy of the Empire Army**

**Fleet Commander **- Commands navel and ground forces.

**General**

**Commander**

**Major**

**Captain**

**Sergeant**

**Corporal**

**Other Branches**

**SIGMA**: The BlackOps of the Empire, they are some of the most expertly trained operatives in the Empire, second only to the Imperial Guard. There is no rank in SIGMA; SIGMA teams take commands from the Emperor or Empress themselves.

**Imperial Guards**: The ancient guards of the Emperor and his family, they are the elite of the Empire military. Their only objective it to protect the Emperor's family. They can be sent of to the front lines in case war breaks out, and are comparable to what UNSC Spartans were to UNSC soldiers during the Human-Covenant War; Invincible War Machines.

**Research and Development Detachment**: Considered part of the military due to the fact that their work revolves almost entirely around producing new weapons, armour and so forth or pushing forward the current technology.

**Department of Airecantian History and Archives**: Comprised of historians and archivists, they are responsible for documenting every single thing that occurs within a the military or history in general. New recruits, deaths, battles, victories, losses; everything is written down; on holos and paper.

**Reserves**: Comprised of the entire Airecantian populace, they are expected to answer the call of the Empire if the need arises.

* * *

**Geography**

Empire-controlled space is extensive, covering at the least five thousand colonies spanning hundreds of systems. Of all races, both Citadel and UOS, many consider that Empire space is perhaps the most secure. This could be, however, merely hopeful wishes due to the militaristic nature of the Airecantians. Some of the most well known and important colonies in Empire space include;

**_Airecant_**- Homeworld

**Norlan**- Largest Fortress World

**Presiua**- First attacked during the Belkan War

**Kaspin**- detonation of first solar wide nuclear device

**Dagal**- Sight of the greatest defeat in Aire History

**Mankoldon**- First Contact with Covenant Revolutionists

**Karon**- Empire RnD world

**Economy**

The Airecantian Empire's economy is one of the largest in the galaxy. It is larger then the Asari, Turians, and Salarians combined, but can't match the UOS alone. The Sangheili Republic is in a close second however, with the UNSC in a far but stable third. Companies such as _Aliger Carbine_ and _Zalcor Industries_ produce advanced, reliable equipment.

**Diplomacy**

The Empire has few enemies in the galaxy to fear, as many fear the retaliation of a power who's history included a millennia long war. More often then not, many leave the Empire alone, only attacking when they know the Empire can't retaliate. Few have ever been successful.

**Allies**:

United Nations Space Command

Sangheili Republic

Council of Five

Allied Confederacy

**Neutral**:

Citadel Council (As a whole)

Krogen Clans

The Migrant Fleet

**Enemies**:

The Tallorian Empire (Dissolution as of 1559 CE)

Bartarian Hegemony.

* * *

**Miscellaneous Facts**

• The Airecantian language 'Airian' is a mixture of all human languages, including small portions of Asari and Kelish.

• Airecantian soldiers frequently participate in the Urban Combat Series, a combat game similar to the Gladiatorial battles of ancient Human Romans.

• Dallis- a type of butterfly that appears only during Airecant's colder months. They are only seen on Airecant.

• Though Earth and Airecant are the same distance to their respective stars, Airecant is colder.

• During Airecant's cold season, it is advised that most species stay off planet or in shelter if on it, as only a minute of exposure can kill all but Krogen and Airecantians. Evo-suits are available, but are very expensive.

• Most of Airecantian history is unknown due to the Belkan War.

• Video Games are a rising trend for Airecantian youth.

• Hoverboarding is considered a National Sport.

• The Empire has only had two Emperors.

• It is normal for a family to have eight to twenty children.

• Emperor Alito Keresk has a very small family, consisting of two children; a boy and a girl.

• The Keresk family was almost completely destroyed during the Belkan War. Alito Keresk is the sole survivor of the family.

• Alito Keresk frequently takes medication for a number of ailments including stress, high blood pressure, migraines, and chest pain.

• Despite the near mimicry of their DNA, Airecantians and Humans cannot have children.

• Airecantians are omnivores, though they require much more meat in their diet then humans since carbohydrates are depleted much faster due to their war like nature.

• Airecantian canines are sharp enough to draw blood.

• Airecantian and Asari couples are very common, almost as common as Airecantian couples.

• The oldest living Airecantian is 2,649 years, with the second being the Emperor at age 2,054.

• Airecantian youth have adopted 21st century human teen clothing trends, reviving older companies such as DC Shoes and Converse.


	2. Timeline

**First Chapter. R&R please.**

**I don' t own Halo or Mass Effect. I do own my races and OC' s.**

* * *

**February 3, 2525:** The UNSC makes contact with a theocratic hegemony made up of many alien species and alliances known as the Covenant Empire on the planet Harvest. First contact begins the Human-Covenant War.

**August 30, 2552:** UNSC Fortress World Reach falls. UNSC Halcyon-class cruiser _'Pillar of Autumn_' escapes the planet.

**September 20, 2552:** Instillation 04 is discovered by the Covenant and the UNSC.

**October 20, 2552:** The Covenant find Earth. The Great Schism begins. Fought between Loyalist and Separatists forces of the Covenant.

**March 3, 2553:** Human-Covenant War is officially declared over. The Great Schism rages on.

**April 1, 2553:** Loyalist forces advance into Separatists territory. War continues with many planets glassed. The UNSC offer limited support, trying to recover from their war.

**April 2, 2555:** Covenant Separatists make contact with an unknown alien race. They plead for the race to help them in the war. They agree. The new faction is called the Airecantian Empire. Appearance is much like humans. 6'6 or taller, have two hearts, and are on par or surpass Spartan-II's capabilities. Technology is Advance Tier 2 to very primitive Tier 1.

**February 4, 2559:** Loyalist forces are defeated at the Battle of Doisac. Jiralhanae fall into civil war. The Great Schism is over and is renamed the Coalition-Covenant War. The Airecantian Empire joins the New Covenant.

**May 21, 2559:** The New Covenant offers a place for Humanity. The UNSC agrees due to the fact that they will be receiving aid from multiple factions, including the powerful Empire.

**May 5, 2560:** After a year of being annexed into the New Covenant, the UNSC request a change to the caste system, or their form of government. The New Covenant were hesitant to change, but agree, seeing the old system as a lie. It is decided to give all species a representative. The New Covenant would be known as the United Orion Systems. A Senate is created. The Senate is composed of all member races.

**June 7, 2560:** The reconstruction of the New Covenant into the UOS begins. The Sangheili still maintain the responsibility of military leadership, but share it with the humans and Airecantians. Other species may choose to join the UOS military. The Sangheili, Humans, and Airecantians play the roles of joint scientists. Other species like the Jiralhanae, the ones who defected with the Separatists, continue to be a part of the military, much to the Sangheili's discontent, but the feelings are estimated to disappear. The Mgalekgolo also stay in the military and Huragoks are the engineers for all civilian and military equipment.

**August 15, 2560:** The reconstruction of the New Covenant to the United Orion Systems is over. Capital is the moon Io in Jupiter's orbit.

Government bodies are comprised of-

UNSC- United Nation Space Command  
The Airecantian Empire  
Sangheili Republic  
Separatists Jiralhanae: Council of Five  
Allied Confederacy: Unggoy, Mgalekgolo

**October 21, 2561:** Terraforming of Harvest begins. Aft portion of UNSC Frigate _'Forward onto Dawn_' is found. John-117 Master Chief and UNSC A.I. Cortana are rescued.

**February 15, 2564:** A special operations group called S.T.A.R. (Special Tactics Assault Rescue) is formed comprised of Airecantians, Humans, Sangheili, and Jiralhanae. The UNSC decide that they need more Spartans to keep up with other species. Only Spartans are allowed in S.T.A.R. due to the intense training. Main base resides on the human Fortress world Reach.

**February 17, 2567:** An Airecantian patrol fleet locates Installation 02 and destroys it.

**September 21, 2568:** Simulation technology is perfected by the UNSC. Now used by all military factions for training. Simulators use different combat scenarios from small skirmishes with pirates, to the battle of Doisac, to the Battle of Instillation Seven during the Airecantian Belkan War. UNSC praised for success. War Games hosted every ten years. First scheduled for July 4, 2570.

**June 17, 2570:** The Ark is repaired. Scientists are sent to study the instillation. Most knowledge is locked, even to humans. Ark is colonized as well.

**March 21, 2573:** The Airecantian Empire pump out there first Emperor-Class station called Alpha station. The Empire had started development on this ship many years before they meet the UOS. The station is about the size of the sol planet Mars. They ask if the UOS senate would be willing to move there capital to the station. They agree. A fleet of 1000 ship defends _Alpha Capital_ besides the millions of weapons that litter the station. Plans for more are underway, but they will not have the same mass as the first. Airecant is also building a new ship, Leviathan-Class.

**July 12, 2573:** The UOS Senate decides to joint colonize worlds in order to bridge the gap between the many species in the UOS, a new way for everyone to cooperate and understand one another.

**November 16 2575:** The first joint UOS colony Charity is developed. Cities on the planet incorporate a mixed architecture of all species.

**March 3, 2580:** The United Orion Systems enters its golden age.

**February 3, 2588:** Harvest is attacked by remnant forces of radical Insurrection during recolonization. Mike and Madison Gininsburg die defending civilians from a force of 400. Last remnants of the Insurrection are destroyed. Both Navy personnel are awarded the Medal of Honor. They leave behind their twelve year old daughter. Girl adopted by Emperor Keresk of the Empire.

**May 17, 2597:** The Sangheili Republic introduces their new supercarrier, the 54 kilometer Penitent-Class.

**Present Day. January 11, 2602, 1723 Hours:** UNSC fleet discovered a device of unknown origin near their colony Harvest ten days prior. Research teams sent. Emperor Keresk joined the HDF (Harvest Defense Fleet) to oversee research.

Space, the near vacuum extanding between planets and stars, containing small amounts of gas and dust. The final frontier for every civilization. A wonderful place, full of different worlds and beautiful spectacles such as the creation of a young star, to its destructive, yet brilliant death. There was always a way to start anew. But it also held its dangers. Blackholes that were invisible to any kind of equipment could tear a ship into atoms. Stray too close to a detonating star and you'd be charred by the intense heat or die from the radiation, depending on the stage of life it's in. Everyone who sought for space saw both beauty and danger, and they respected it for what it was, praised their deity for blessing them with the remarkable gift of what space had to offer.

One planet, Harvest, was on the fringe of UNSC territory. It still had a generally small population, as they had just reclaimed the planet only a decade earlier. The debris of the ships that fought over this planet during the Human-Covenant War had been cleared. The space elevator had been rebuilt. The population was where it had been prewar.

Twenty UNSC ships always defended the colony. Ten were around the icy moon of the small colony, along with five other ships; research ships. They had descovered a structure of some sort ten days before. They had yet to activate the relic, which was incases in ice.

"Strange object. It doesn't look Forerunner. Is it Reverent?" Keresk asked the flouting A.I. next to him.

The A.I. in question was a monitor. Or use to be. His full name was 2395 Reverent Warrior, monitor of instillation 07. He had joined with the Airecantians at the close of the Belkan War, a war Airecantians fought. Their enemies tried activating the station and, unlike other monitors, Reverent would do everything in his power to stop the Flood by other means instead of firing Halo. After the battle for the station, Reverent had left the array and watched it be destroyed. He saw it as a danger to all life. He had been helping the Airecantians after the incident, almost a thousand years. He saw it as nice that he could talk to sentient beings, organic or other Artificial Intelligences.

He looked like other monitors. His monitor shined a soft white and his voice was deep.

"No, my creators did not build this. This is from an entirely different alien species. Nothing comes up on any UOS archives."

"What about Forerunner archives?"

"The relic was made by the Protheans. They are an ancient alien race which mysteriously vanished over 50,000 years ago. The Protheans arose from a single planet and developed an immense galaxy-wide empire encompassing many other spacefaring species. Not much is known about them, but many of their artifacts, ruins and technology have apparently survived the ages."

"The Protheans have been credited with creating the Citadel and the mass relays, the relic in front of you, and feats of engineering that have never been equaled and whose core mass effect field technology forms the basis of contemporary civilization. That is all the data. I never took interest into studying other species, and so I have no additional data."

"Mass Effect technology... Hmm. Send your information to the UOS scientist."

"It has already been done."

Keresk was on the UNSC destroyer _Arizona_. He had been in a hurry and had flown on with them when he had gotten the news. The one in charge of the operation was Vice-Admiral Kelly Gininsburg, Harvest Defense Fleet. The main section was spherical with a hollow center. It also had two "arms" that extended out to the side. Basically, it resembled an energy sword.

Keresks appearance was much like a human. He had tan skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. He looked like he was in his teen years, which by his standards he was. In human standards, he looked 16. He was about 6'10 and was not as built as others of his race. His son was more built then he was, not by much, but still. But that didn't make a difference of how strong he was. He was one of the strongest and best fighters in the Empire. The only person who could take him would be John or Master Chief as most people called him, his son, or his wife.

Keresk was an Airecantian. An Airecantian emperor no less. He had been an emperor for over a thousand and a half years, ever since his father had died in a war of theirs, one called the Belkan War or 'hundred years war'. It lasted a thousand years, killing 75% of the population of both races involved, wiping out three fourths of their colonies. The war was a war for survival, just like the Human-Covenant War was for the humans, then the Coalition-Covenant for the Separatists. The race they were facing were called Tallorins, which were very similar to his kind, which in fact they were. He didn't know why they had attacked; only that they did, and that they wanted his people dead. They didn't get what they wanted though, and Keresk was happy for that.

He also wore what humans called a cowboy hat. A black one, straight, and long enough to cover his eyes with a shadow. He had taken a liking to the hat, and had been wearing them since the end of the Coalition-Covenant War.

"Who ever built it likes to build big." Kelly said, chuckling slightly as she walked next to Keresk.

She wasn't lying either. A Republic Assault Carrier paled in comparison.

Kelly was from a family that was integrated within the UNSC military. Her grandfather was an ODST during the war, along with her grandmother. Both her parents served in the Navy. All were well known, her grandparents from leading the victory at the battle of Doisac that ended the war, and her parents sacrifice to protect a group of civilians from an Insurrection force of 400 when recolonization had begun on Harvest. In her opinion, she had it hard. Everyone assumed that since she was a Gininsburg, she was like her parents or grandparents, which put a lot of pressure on her to succeed and live up to her family's reputation. Keresk could relate to her, as everyone had expected him to be like his father when he took control of the empire after his death, in the middle of a war no less, and at the young age of ten standard years. Keresk had known her family personally, having fought along side all of them. When her parents had died at Harvest, Keresk had decided to adopt her. He brought her to his home on Airecant, the Empires' capital, and had taken care of her until she enlisted in the UNSC Navy, and they shared a special relationship. Kelly thought of Keresk as a second father while Kereks saw her as another daughter.

"Do you and the other A.I.s have any head way with this relic?" Keresk asked Reverent Warrior.

"We believe we may be getting close."

"Alright, keep trying. We're bound to get it at some point." Keresk said while rubbing his eyes.

"I think you need some sleep Alito. You've been up since we found this thing." Kelly said, using his first name.

"Like my father said.' You can sleep when you're dead.'"

She chuckled. "Stubborn bastard wasn't he?"

"Yes he was. I'm more stubborn then he was."

"Hard to believe with all the stories you tell me."

"Believe it Kelly." He said with a smirk.

"Excuse me?" Reverent cut in. "We're in the relics system. We are going to activate it. I recommend you buckle up."

"Brace yourselves." Kelly said to her bridge crew. The ship shook as the relic activated, making everyone who was standing stumble slightly, except for Kelly and Keresk. After a few minutes the moon had begun to crack and fire plumes of gas into space. Followed by chunk of ice being expelled from the moon along with a bright blue flare in the moon. The rest of the moon had begun to melt of get propelled into space. All debris had begun slowly heading down to the dwarf planet. The center of the sphere was now glowing with blue energy, as two rings spun around it. After a few moments, the relic was thawed, the two rings now spinning even faster.

"Alright. Team one's going in."

"Be careful."

"It seems the energy is dark energy. We've seen it before, but not in a usable source. We're going to get a closer look."

Team ones' ship neared the spinning rings. Dark Energy seemed to extend from the sphere, and wrap itself around the research ship.

And just like that, it was gone.

"What the hell just happened?" Shouted Keresk.

"Team One respond! Team One?" Kelly was trying to get into contact with the missing ship.

For five minutes everyone held their breath at what would happen next. At the end of those given minutes, the research ship appeared next to the relic.

"Team One to all. The relic just propelled us about 35 light-years across space to an identical relic, it's part of some sort of high speed transportation network."

"My god." Keresk let out a sigh.

"All ships fall back in formation. We head to Harvest and inform the UOS of our findings."

* * *

**January 11, 2602, 19:32 Hours:** Fleet returns to Harvest and send information to the UOS. More research teams to relay are underway.

**January 16, 2602:** The remains of an alien ship is found near Charity. Ship is transported to the planet, but a malfunction in the cargo ship shuts down engines and the ship crashes. A strange black mist covers the capital. Medical teams sent to planet to see if anyone is ill affected by the mist.

**January 20, 2602:** A relic of the same design as the first is found near the Airecantian colony Mankoldon. Experiments on the relic have the same results as the first.


	3. Shots Fired

**To answer a question that someone asked.**

**Keresk is a teen is his races years. Airecantians can live incredibly long lives; five thousand years. They live that long due to the large amounts of radiation they absorbed during their war, from both plasma and nuclear weapons which were used almost daily. They only lived as long as Asari did before the war. Keresk is about 2054 years at this point.**

**As for the humans adopting their tactics, they do train civilians, but only basics in case the have to defend themselves. They live longer then they would due to some medical enhancements that the Airecantins gave them. They now live up to 280 years.**

**I will not be beefing up the Citadel in terms of technology. Seeing as this is taking place 500 after what was ME, military size will be upped in order to compensate with the UOS, but that's it, and even then I don't think... never mind.**

**Also, thanks for the support. This story had over 2,000 view within 24 hours. Again thanks.**

**Don't own Halo of Mass Effect. I do own OC's and races.**

* * *

"Four months of nothing. How did I survive this long in the navy?" Kelly said as she took a sip of her coffee on the bridge of her destroyer UNSC _Arizona_. She was still vice-Admiral of the HDF, which kind of annoyed her. It had been a very uneventful four months after they had discovered that relic. Today was no difference. The only eventful thing today was a shipment of goods from Mankoldon, traveling along with Airecantians that are visiting the planet. She wasn't wishing for combat, but more of a change of scenery. Ever since she had become a vice-Admiral, she had been stuck here.

She had 10 frigates, 7 destroyers, and 2 carriers around her.

"When are the goods suppose to get here?" Kelly asked while brushing a lose strand of red hair behind her ear.

"They should have been here an hour ago Ma'am." Dan said.

"Maybe they had a slipspace malfunction. Possibly a few lightyears off coruce. Even with our advance technology, things like that are going to happen." Kelly said. She could see that happening. Once, an Airecantian transport had a malfunction, and it disappeared for a week. When they made it to their destination, they said they had a strange incident. Said incident was traveling to year 2012. Even with the knowledge the UOS had on slipspace, it was still a mystery to everyone.

"Wait...we're picking up something...Ma'am, a cluster of ships just entered the system, twelve; they're heading towards the planet, directly in our direction. They're not human." Said Dan as he looked at the terminal, squinting his eyes. "Come to think of it, they don't match any ship class we know. Hell, they don't even use slipspace. They just appeared in a...blue-shift."

Kelly sighed.

"They always come to Harvest." Kelly said bitterly as she sat straighter in her chair. "Very well. Transmit on all frequencies."

"Aye Ma'am."

"This is Vice-Admiral Kelly Gininsburg of the United Nations Space Command. We are a race known as Humanity. We do not want any conflict with other races. If you could respond to this message, please do so. I would like to get to know you better."

"Message being run through translators."

"Right." Kelly said. She placed her thumb on her ear and relayed a message.

"All ships, general quarters, general quarters. Common, MAC round. Archers. Hold."

She looked at the view screen. There were twelve ships; what looked like eight corvettes, three frigates, and possibly a single crusier size wise. They were smaller then her own ships, but that didn't mean they were any less dangerous. The metal work on the ships was strange. Each piece of metal was overlapping each other, looking almost like feathers.

* * *

**Turian Dreadnought _Solar Storm_.**

Admiral Actus serveaed the scene before him. He could see twenty ships of different design around what he presumed was their homeworld. He had come here after he had seen that relay 1789 had been activated. He had destroyed five ships afterwards, but they were able to send a signal out. He didn't know whether they had received or not, but it looked like they didn't.

It was apparent that he was somewhat annoyed. When his fleet had attacked the cargos, one of his captains got excited and decided to make sure the ships were destroyed. It ended with one cargo ship overloading its engines and detonating, taking all cargos and one of his frigates.

The ships in front of him were cruiser size and equal or larger then a Turian dreadnought. More practical design as well with four letters on their sides. UNSC.

"Scans indicate no presence of ezzo on these ships."

"No eezo?" Tonn asked in surprise. "They're emitting power from somewhere."

"We do have large power sources. Sensors indicate that most power is coming from the engines."

'Good.' Tonn thought. 'That gives us the upper hand. They don't have shields. We will end this quickly.'

"Sir, they're sending a message through translators. Do we respond?"

"We answer them with accelerator and torpedo fire."

"Sir?"

"Council law comes first." Tonn replied.

"But sir, the situation dictates that we are to initiate First Contact Protocol, lest we instigate another Rachni War or Relay incident." The Turian said.

Tonn had to pause at that. He remembered the stories about the Rachni War. How a Salarian exploration ship had opened a dormant relay, and how the Rachni had reacted violently, starting a three hundred year long war that was won when the Salarians uplifted the Krogen and used then as soldiers. But then the Krogen got out of hand, and his species had to take care of them. Then his thoughts went to the 314 relay incident. How they had met a new race and decided to try and subject them. That little engagement hadn't ended well for the Higharchy, and Tonn had to growl at the thought. Though this situation was different.

"This won't end that way. They have no shields and have no presence of ezzo. They're technology will be primitive. So follow orders."

"Sir-"

"I will not repeat myself Dilies. Follow. My. Orders." He said. The Turian stopped questioning, at least out loud.

'Why do I have the feeling that this is going to start something we can't stop?' The Turian thought.

* * *

"Ships maintaining a steady course towards us. They haven't respond."

"Alright, once they get in closer, open fire. If they attack us, I want to take them out in one blow."

"Aye Ma'am."

No sooner had the helmsman finished, the twelve contacts opened fire on the UNSC fleet. High speed projectiles and missiles from the alien ships all slammed into the fleet, causing all ships to shake violently, each consumed by fire. However, all ships had survived the attack.

"What the?" Dan read the readings on the terminal.

"What is it Dan?"

"Shields are holding 85%. Their weapons are rather weak." Dan.

"Really?" She asked curiously. "Well, if their weapons are that strong, let's see how their shields hold up."

"All ships, Formation Alpha-Zulu. Pick your targets." Kelly said with more confidence.

UNSC ships had been upgraded since the end of the Human-Covenant War, and the UOS had helped as well. MACs had faster firing rates, ten rounds a minute, and three times their yield. Archers were now tipped with plasma warheads that gave four times the yield. The ships themselves had been fitted with shields equal to Sangheili Republic ships. Their halls had been reinforced with Airecantian metals, not the strongest, but they could take three MAC type rounds alone before being compromised.

* * *

**Turian dreadnought _Solar Storm_.**

"What?!" Tonn was shocked. The enemy shouldn't have any shields. How could they take hits from a Tuian fleet and shrug it off? Was that even possible?

"Sir, ships have begun to take battle positions. Enemy ships power is spiking." The Turian at the terminal said, his voice showing some presence of fear.

Tonn wouldn't let fear cloud his judgement.

"All ships, raise your shields. Prepare another salvo to answer their attack." He took in the situation. The enemy force had spread out, widening the space between the ships. Twelve ships began separating from the fleet, splitting in two groups of six, taking the left and right flank.

'They must be trying to avoid our weapons. We must have done heavy damage to their shields.'

Blue spheres opened in front of the twelve ships before they disappeared.

"What?"

They reappeared on both sides of his fleet in the same manner they had disappeared and fired. The destroyer to his left was engulfed in flames, as well as the frigate behind it.

"Spirits, what was that?!" Tonn demanded.

"It came from the enemy sir! They're firing mass accelerators that are faster then anything in Citadel space! It just tore through _New Dawn_ and _Centi_!" The fear was apparent on the Turians voice and face. Then small objects began flying away from the enemy ships, now identified as missiles.

"GUARDIAN defenses up! Evasive-" Before Tonn could finish, the missiles slammed into his fleet. They seemed to have passed right through the shields, at least the explosions. Most of his ships had been destroyed by the salvo of missiles, the explosives cutting through the halls, overloading the engines, causing them to detonate. Only his ship and a destroyer had survived.

The bridge was sparking from controls that had malfunctioned due to the attack. Bodies now layered the floor. Tonns' arm had been opened, purple liquid flowing through his hand as he attempted to stop the bleeding.

"Sir, enemy ships preparing to fire their mass accelerators!" Tonn was surprised anything worked on the ship after it had taken those hits.

'But that was only 15 seconds ago!' The Turian knew his fleet was very much gone: he had to make it back to Citadel space to warn them about this new race.

"All remaining ships, activate your FTL drives! Back the the relay!" His ship was the only one to hear his command as the destroyer exploded. Soon after, he could see the illusive blue of FTL travel.

"Once we reach Citadel space, we let the Hierarchy know about this."

'Sprites, what have I done?' Tonn questioned himself.

* * *

The enemy cruiser had survived the missiles, but was badly damaged from plasma radiation. It activated some FTL drive and left the system. The corvette wasn't as lucky.

"Statues." Kelly demanded.

"All ships survived. Enemy cruiser is heading towards the relay. I'm willing to bet my right arm that they're the reason the transport ships aren't here. They probably destroyed them on the way."

"Alito isn't going to be happy about this." Kelly said. "Sam." She turned to a projector on her left arm rest to reveal an A.I., mirroring a young woman that wore snow military fatigues and spoke with a thick Russian accent.

"I was able to get into their systems before we wiped them out. Their computer defenses are rather primitive." The A.I. sounded disappointed. "They have a lot of information. One item of interest is something they call the Codex."

"So it can tell us who attacked us?"

"The aliens that attacked us are called Turians. The Turians are a militaristic race that acts as peacekeepers for a larger political body, the Citadel Council. Think of a peaceful Covenant. This Citadel Council oversees several different races and tries to ensure peace in their area of space. However, several treaties enacted by the Council have put military and political power into the main Council races. The Council makes all decisions regarding galactic importance, but only the voices of the three Council races are presented as legitimate to galactic law. Other races hold embassies, but have no say in galactic policy. The Council races include the Turians, the race we faced, the Asari, a mono-gendered species, and the Salarians, an amphibian-like species. The Council races also have more military warships than other races, ensuring they remain in power despite the unequal representation. Their capital is the Citadel. It states that it is a massive space station, but in comparison with High Charity, it's relatively small, even smaller when compared with Alpha Capital. It appears that we broke one of their laws regarding the activation of relays. They seem to be very cautious about exploration. They activated another relay years before and found a very violent race of insects called the Rachni, which caused a war that lasted three hundred years. They saw us activate it and possibly feared the same thing."

"So they killed civilians because we broke a law we didn't know existed?" Kelly asked while slumping on her chair. "What of their weapons?"

"Mass Accelerators: Propel solid metal slugs via electromagnetic attraction and repulsion. A slug lightened by a mass effect field can be accelerated to extremely high speeds, permitting unattainable projectile velocities. Think of a weaker variant of a MAC." Sam's eyes glowed blue before she continued.

"Disruptor Torpedoes: Are powered projectiles with warheads that create random and unstable mass effect fields when triggered. These fields warp space-time in a localized area. The rapid asymmetrical mass charges cause the target to rip itself apart."

"Thanks Sam." Kelly said. "Send this intel to the UOS. They'll deal with this now."

* * *

**Airecantian Colony Mankoldon. Orbit**

Mankoldon was the Empires newest colony. If you could call a hundred year colony new. Even with all the time the Empire had the planet, the population was relatively small, only 2 billion. Most of the surface was covered in high mountains and pine forests. Due to the planets size, about the size of Neptune, it was taking time to map out the planet on foot, where scanners couldn't get to the deeper parts of the planets many caverns and valleys.

"_Demon_ squadron, we have unknown contact bearing vector 280. Defense fleet chasing pirates and are unable to proceed themselves. Intercept contact. If hostile, neutralize."

"Copy. _Demons_ form up. Hold fire unless fired upon."

"Yes sir."

"Got it."

"Heard ya'!"

"Let's get this over with."

'First pirates, now unknowns. Kind of an interesting day.' Troden thought. He had been stationed on the planet for the time. He and his squadron was to transfer to Airecant before the week was out. He began turning his Centurion to meet the contact.

This pilots full name was Troden Basknel, commander of the 501st fighter wing, more specifically _Demon_ squadron. His flight was one of the longest living divisions in the Airecantian Air Force, second only to Belkan squadron, named after the infamies war. He had fought in multiple battles, both in the sky, on the ground, and even in the oceans. He was one out of the 40 pilots that lived through the war in the 100 man division. This man had blond hair, white skin, and gold eyes. And like all Airecantins, he was built for war.

The Centurion was the premier fighter of the Airecantian Navy. The design was of a strange arrowhead. The main body of was shaped like a thin diamond with swept forward wings attached to the back sides of the diamond with the engines in the same area. Weapons were held internally, and the fighter had shields, which was standard.

Once they arrived at the coordinates, they took in the unknown ship. It could be classified as a corvette by its size and had overlapping armor plates that gave off the illusion of feathers.

"Looks alien. Doesn't match any UNSC or even UOS configuration."

"First contact. History in the making here. Send a first contact package."

Before they could, the ships weapons opened up on them.

"Break!" Each fighter swerved to avoid the fire.

"Didn't even try to contact us! The hell?!"

"Shut up and start shooting!"

The most common form at missiles for Airecantian fighters was the Zaton missiles. Once released from the aircraft, they detonated three seconds after, releasing ten smaller projectiles. Even in their small size, these missiles did damage to anything it hit. The missile was tipped with a plasma/nuclear warhead and didn't detonate until it was firmly in a ship. They could use it for Air to Air combat as well when fitted with conventional warheads.

Each fighter let loose a pair of missiles, twenty in all. After three seconds, each blew, letting out ten, now a hundred in all. All the missiles hit their target.

The first twenty impacted their shields, draining them and sending minimal plasma radiation to the ship, another forty were taken out by defense turrets. However, the other forty hit home, diving their way into the ships hall before detonating. Unfortunately for the crew of the ship, the explosions split the ship in half, ejecting anyone who hadn't died from the detonations into space.

"Contact destroyed." One of his wingmen announced.

"Aw, damn. They sent a message to their friends."

"Send information to Capital. They'll want to know of this. And radio to the planet to expect some uninvited guests." Troden said as he took in the sight of the burning ship.

'And so begins another war.'

* * *

**Human Councilor Hoods' office. Location- CLASSIFIED**

The office was nice. It had what was needed plus a few other things. The desk was nice dark maple wood imported from earth, very expensive now and days. The chair was mad of a gel type fiber to mold with a persons body. The interior was also wood, redwood. Shelves were covered by books and documents. Two people occupied the room at the moment. One Human, one Airecantian.

"I thought ONI and the Empire were on good terms. One of your agents tried hacking into Airecantian star charts. Why? We saved your race from extinction back during the war. What's with the ill feelings?" Keresk asked. He was curious to why ONI would do this to him. Like he had said before, had his Empire not participated in the war, the Separatists and UNSC would not exist.

"I had heard from subordinates. The only problem is that it did not come from ONI." Hood said.

"If not ONI, then who?"

"It's possible that we may have a splinter cell in ONI. I'll have my people look into it, and if possible, I would like to have your SIGMA look into it as well."

"Very well. I thank you."

"Gentlemen."

Both men turned to face the Unggory Representative at the door.

"Councilor Gulo. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I'm afraid it's anything but. It seems we have met a new race. I have received reports that both Harvest and Mankoldon have been attacked by hostile aliens. The cargo ships and tourist ship that were headed to Harvest have been destroyed."

"Destroyed?!" Keresk shouted. He clenched his fingers. "Damn it."

"If you could both follow me. You two must discuss this with the Arbiter."

* * *

**May 16, 2601:** Contact with Turian race over UNSC colony Harvest and Airecantian colony Mankoldon. Appear to be hostile. UOS discussing how to retaliate.

Jupiter. The largest of the gas giants in the sol system, surrounded by sixteen moons. Named after the Roman God King. And orbiting this planet, next to its once volcanic moon Io, was _Alpha Capital_, capital of the UOS government. The station was protected by one of the largest fleet the UNSC and former covenant species had ever seen, now 2,000 ships after the report of hostile aliens. The moon Io is used as a refit base for the station. It also acts as a shield for the station in case it were attacked. The station itself is a sphere, colored dark steel, much like Airecantian military vessels. The Capital had its own civilians living on the station, as to keep the station up and running. You could travel to the Capital, but you had to take certain ships to get to and fro, as they did not want to reveal the location of Alpha. In the confines of Alpha, the conference room, the major leaders of the UOS were discussing the recent attack on Harvest and Mankoldon by these Turians.

A fist slammed onto the pedestal. "Cowards, these Turians are. Attacking civilians." Keresk was seething. His people had been attacked, and they hadn't shown any hostility.

"Remember that you're not the only victim here. They attacked us too." Lord Hood was standing right next to Keresk.

"One of their ships escaped." Thel said. "They'll bring reinforcements."

"My fighters at Mankoldon have destroyed a corvette in our system, but he sent a signal out before we could stop him. No doubt they plan on attacking it as well as Harvest." Keresk was starting to regain his composure.

"We're sending more ships to Harvest as we speak. 60 more ships are on their way. We don't know what they'll come after us with, so we're making sure that we out number them and out gun them." Hood said while looking at his data pad.

"My defense fleet is large enough. And if the size of their ships is anything to go by, I doubt they have a ship bigger then three kilometers. I have S.T.A.R. operatives on the ground, both at Harvest and Mankoldon." Keresk said.

"Good. Will any of you require assistance?" Thel asked.

"As far as we can tell, our technology is much more advance then theirs. Our weapons were able to tear through them like butter. We should be able to hold them off. If not, we have a reserve force of a hundred." Hood stated. Thel turned to Keresk, but didn't bother with a question.

"I already know you will not require assistance." Thel said.

"You know me all too well Arbiter." Keresk bowed slightly.

"Very well. After the battles are over, we are to conduct another meeting, this time with the entire Senate, and enlighten them and the entity of the UOS. We will discuss more later. May your swords be swift." Thel said, crossing his right arm over his body and bowing slightly. Keresk mirrored his gesture, while Hood simply bowed.

* * *

**Half an hour later...**

Keresk was in his new ship, AMS _Phoenix_, the 144 kilometer Leviathan-Class Battle Platform., the only one in existence as of late, waiting for his fleet to gather at _Alpha_ _Capital_. 3,000 ships now orbited the station.

The Leviathans' origins start into the early stages of the Belkan War, 100 years into the war to be more precise. The Empire needed a ship with the firepower of a orbital station, but that could keep pace with Fortresses and assault planetary bodies. Plans for the ship were scrapped when they had calculated that it would take too many resources to build, and they did not have the time. Planning began again at the end of the war, but construction did not start until five hundred years after. Construction was slow, being that they were still rebuilding there military and Empire, also in conjunction with the construction of the Emperor-Class station _Alpha Capital _that took priority. It would take five hundred years before the first Leviathan was built, along with a second a few days later. Each had the capability of taking a small fleet of Fortress-Class ships and could support two of said ships. They took the look of and undersea lobster. They could house millions of soldiers along with there equipment, thousands of fighter/bombers, and hundreds of assault platforms. Nothing in the known galaxy could take the ship down easily except for a Super MAC, a NOVA bomb, and an Emperor-Class station.

Keresk wanted to make an impression on the Turians when he attacked them, so he was bringing a large number of ships with him.

On the bridge, Keresk was reading through the Codex that Reverent Warrior had. They had sent it to all military leaders, and since Reverent was always with Keresk, they sent it through him.

"So they had other races do the fighting in all their major wars. Pathetic. It's a hard to believe that they've last for so long." Keresk said to himself. "Reverent, send the coordinates for Palaven to my battle fleet."

"Of course."

"All ships, form up on me then make the jump to slipspace It'll take about three hours to get there, so we go now. We make sure these fools know who they're dealing with."


	4. Deceleration of Open War

**Don't own Mass Effect or Halo. I do own my race and OC's.**

* * *

**Harvest. Location- Orbit**

82 ships now defended the colony. More then half the ships here were frigates, with 12 destroyers, 8 carriers, 15 Halcyon-class cruisers, and their newest ship, the Infinity-Class.

The Infinity-Class was first a technology demonstrator, built during the Human-Covenant War, but was later refitted for combat. The ship was five kilometers long, the biggest ship the UNSC had ever constructed. It held the largest amount of MAC guns then any other UNSC ship; four MACs along with a Super MAC. This ship was like a damage sponge. It could take one hell of a beating, but it could still fight and cause a lot of trouble for an enemy fleet. Even a small number of Airecantian military vessels. Two ships would be taking part in this engagement; UNSC _Infinity_ and UNSC _Hood_.

In orbit, they had taken defensive positions around the airspace that held the high populated areas. Most of the ships assigned here were behind Harvest, to have an edge for surprise.

"Nothing on sensors Ma'am."

"Keep checking. They'll come." Kelly was in charge of this operation.

"I wished for something new. Why this? I just wanted a change of scenery." Kelly whined to herself. She would like nothing better then to visit Airecant for a month or two.

It had been a day after the attack on Harvest. Her fleet had been here for a few hours, waiting for another Turian fleet to retaliate for what happened before. And came they did.

"We've got multiple contacts. 40 in all. Not ours."

"Class?"

"Seventeen corvettes, eleven frigates, seven carriers, and what looks like four cruisers."

"That's less then I expected."

* * *

**Turian dreadnought _Under Fire_.**

"They should have given us more ships." General Desolas said. His fleet outnumbered the enemy fleet, but he always liked putting the enemy at awe with the Turian military. A huge fleet always did that. There were only twenty ships. Tonn had said that their weapons were very advance, but his numbers should even that out.

"Begin launching drop ships."

"Yes General."

As Desolas watched the ships decent towards the planet, he could make out what looked to be fighters coming towards his ships.

"Launch fighters. Tell them to cover our troop carriers."

Each fighter took a strange look. They're bodies were flat, with what looked like tails trailing behind it. Each let loose a pair of missiles, which made contact with the troop transports, sending them up in a ball of fire.

"Engage those fighters!"

As the Turian fighters fired at the enemy craft, they found a disturbing revelation; the fighters had shields. And strong ones at that. Their weapons were also advance as they fired their main guns, which cut right through the Turian fighters.

"Tonn you idiot." He said while palming his face. "Why didn't you tell us that they had shields?"

Then Desolas was greeted with a monster.

What looked like a black hole with blue hue spheres opened around the enemy fleet, and out came 60 other ships, each of various classes. Two stood out to him.

"Sir! Scans show that those two ships are 5 kilometers long! They're jamming us!"

'5 kilometers?! That's larger then the Destiny Ascension! Spirits, what did Tonn get us into?!'

"All ships, concentrate fire on the larger ships! If the smaller ones engage you, destroy them! We must hold out!"

* * *

**UNSC Destroyer _Arizona_**

"Carriers are sending dropships bound for the planet surface. Longsword fighters are doing what they can to take as many of them out."

"Alright, we'll deal with their fleet. Let Kilel know to expect company." The Infinity-Class ship fired its super MAC.

* * *

"Turian's coming down! They're tracking away from our AA guns!"

"Heavy fighting at city hall! They're landing forces here! Help right now would be appreciated!"

"Damn! Tank! I need some heavies here!"

"Hostile aliens again. Damn it. As if we needed to deal with this." Kilel said as he watched dropships land in the city of New Gradstein. He very much looked like his father. Brown hair, tan skin, but his eyes were red like his grandmother from his moms' side instead of brown. He wore armor that was standards in the Airecantian military, which looked much like MJOLNIR Mark VII Powered Assault Armor, just much sharper angles, armor covered every inch of his bodysuit, the only part bearing anything was his hands and neck, and was colored blood red. Again, he didn't have a helmet on. Airecantians don't like helmets, for they felt constricted with one around their head. But that didn't mean they didn't have one. His father had sent him here along with any S.T.A.R. operatives that were near the system. One such operative was the one they called Master Chief. That was what many people knew him as. Kilel just called him John.

"We all get tired of things. That doesn't mean we stop doing them." John said as he switched the safety off his rifle.

"Yeah, yeah." Kilel said as he checked his AR-30 and SR-49.

The AR-30 stands for Assault Rifle year 30, the year the rifle was made. Many hand held weapons of the Empire take the look of 21st century human weapons. The AR-30 takes the look of an M-4 carbine. They fired bullets, but not with gunpowder. The mechanical make up of the gun makes it like a miniature MAC gun by the way if fires the projectiles. Therefore, bullets are half the size they would normally be, which means the user can carry more ammunition. The bullets were also super heated rounds and pack more inertia, or force, which cut through shields more easily. His SR-49 was a sniper rifle that looked like a Berret .50.

He looked through the scope of the sniper at one of the dropships.

"Why'd they choose a Praying Mantis for the design? But who am I to complain? They give the pilots position away. And they expose the ammunition." He said as he fired. The bullet hit a missile that was hanging underneath the wing of the ship, which caused it to explode. The dropship spun uncontrollably before slamming into the cities many buildings.

"An excellent shot." A Sangheili behind him commented.

"I think his shields were down." Kilel said.

"Alright, enough chit chat. Warthogs, now." John jumped into the passenger seat.

"You heard him." A Jiralhanae now. "Move!"

There were twelve S.T.A.R. combatants and four warthogs. Two had the Vulcan machine gun, a Gauss cannon, and a rocket launcher. Kilel jumped in the Vulcan of Johns hog, while the others jumped in the rest. Then they made their way into the city.

"Cortana. Where's the main force landing again?" John.

"Center of the city. Town hall. They're using the park as a landing zone." The A.I. said.

"Ok. John and I will go head on with their forces. All of you will go around and flank them. Take heavy vehicles out first. Got it? Good." He looked up at ten dropship that were heading their way, firing their guns.

"Fry the sons of bitches!" Kilel said as he fired the Vulcan, while Doc, a Spartan, fired the guass cannon.

Two ships were taken down with the guass and rockets, the others recognized that they had heavy weapons, and proceeded to do invasive maneuvers to avoid the fire, while Kilel and another operative kept the fire on with the Vulcan's.

"These thing move like roaches when you turn on a light!"

"Keep firing! Don't give them a bloody inch!" Doc said in his Canadian accent.

"Aim at the exposed missiles and the center! Pilots in there!" Kilel shouted as he racked three ships, downing one.

"Hostiles! In front!"

Kilel swiveled the gun forward as a group of Turians started firing at them. Kilel let loose, killing five while the warthog ran over two and threw a third over his head.

"Yeeeeeeeha!" Doc was having fun with this.

"Crazy basterd!" Kilel said, but he was smiling.

One dropship fired a missile at the front of Kilels' warthog, sending it flipping into the air.

"Shiiiiiiiiit!" Kilel said as he tried firing upside down, he heard a few other occupants yell out.

He actually managed to pierce the pilots' throat with one of the rounds, and the dropship spiraled onto the ground.

The warthog landed back on all four wheels and continued forward.

"God damn it." Kilel let out a sigh. "Try dodging please."

"Remember that it is rather difficult for me to work human machinery." The driver said. "I am a Sangheili."

"I'll keep that in mind. Ok, just stick to the plan people. Three clicks." Kilel said as he looked up just in time to see a burning Turian cruiser falling towards the planet.

"They're good as dead."

"More Turians!" Cortana.

"Bring it!" Doc.

"We shall show these fools who they are dealing with!" Jiralhanae.

The Sangheili and Kilel merely laughed as everyone opened fire.

* * *

"Fire!" Kelly's destroyer fired both it's MAC guns at a frigate that exploded.

The battle in space had gone well. Two frigates and a destroyer had been lost, but the Turians were on their last cruiser. They couldn't concentrate their fire enough with all these ship. They were mostly targeting the Infinity-Class cruisers, seeing them as the biggest thereat, but it wasn't doing much to help them.

Kelly could see this as the fastest fleet battle in known history.

"Archers now!" A salvo of missiles impacted the cruiser. The shields failed, the hall buckled as the missiles breached their hall, but the ship was still fighting, and fired a high speed projectile at Arizona as well has a few missiles. The mass driver round hit first.

"Shields 15%!" Kelly's' ship had been in the heat of the fighting and her shields were very much drained. She didn't want to chance the hall taking the missiles.

"Full power to engines! Helm, bow up ninety!"

The _Arizona _picked up speed, climbing to a ninety degree angle. Most of the missiles couldn't compensate the maneuver and soured pass the ship. The rest were taken down by the point-defense turrets.

"Forty five left!"

While the ship was still moving up, it turned at an alarming speed. The inertia it had picked up was still showing, for it was facing the Turian cruiser while moving sideways.

"Double MAC!"

The cruiser exploded in a brilliant flash of red and yellow as two 600 ton slugs from the MAC slammed into it, tearing the ship into fours.

"All hostile ships destroyed. Ground forces have eliminated pockets of resistance. Turians gathered at New Gladsheim town hall. S.T.A.R. operatives in route. You can rest easy Ma'am, the hard parts over."

"Ok. What about battle at Mankoldon?"

Kilel answered this one. "Battle hasn't started yet. They estimate they will arrive around a minute or two from now."

"Where are you now?" Kelly asked.

"Two clicks east of city hall. Turians have gathered their forces there. We have a plan to-THE HELL?!" An explosion could be heard on the comms along with gunfire.

"BRING IT DOWN! BRING IT DOWN!"

"Kilel! What's going on?!"

"Turian attacked us! Using some weird ass power! Any kind of help right now would be appreciated! MOVE JOHN!" More explosions and gun fire. "THE RIGHT! HE'S ON THE RIGHT!"

Static.


	5. Open War: Part Two

**Another chapter. I just want to answer a question. **

**Danyael Prince: I just wrote it. I wasn't in a particular writing style. **

**Don't own Halo or Mass Effect. I do own my race and OC's.**

* * *

"All ships are above highly populated areas. Anti-Ship batteries are green; shields are up, waiting for a solution. All stations are go Fleetmaster."

"Stay on your toes everyone."

Mankoldon had prepared all their defenses for the coming invasion, though many were convinced it wouldn't be classified as an invasion.

"Fleetmaster, we're picking up...blue shifts."

"This means they're here."

He could see multiple ships, about seventy-two in all, ranging from corvettes to cruisers. Only there was one problem.

They were past the blockade he had made.

"What the hell?!"

"They broke through?!"

"Hold your fire! We can't risk hitting the planet!"

Without warning, the Turian ships fired mass accelerator rounds; all concentrated in one general area.

"They fired at the capital!"

"Helm, micro jump, sector alpha-bravo! Comm, prepare to broadside!"

Three ships slipped, only to appear a second later in front of the Turians.

The three Fortress ships took the brunt of the second salvo of accelerator rounds and the first of torpedoes. The shields held, and the fortresses returned fire, setting off a chain reaction of fire in space.

"Damn it!" The Fleetmaster slammed his fist on his arm rest. "Do we have eyes on the Capital?"

"No response Fleetmaster. We'll have eyes in the area in five minutes."

"Find out how they passed our blockade." he said in frustration. He rubbed his eyes.

'Thousands dead from of a careless mistake I made because I was arrogant.'

* * *

"Damn!" Kilel threw the comm unit. A bullet had skimmed it and damaged it enough to mess with the transmission. He threw a grenade that detonated next to the alien, which threw it to the right, his barriers now drained. Kilel proceeded to charge him, his sword now ignited.

Airecantians have used swords for centuries. The sword was made of Airecantian metals that could take plasma for extended periods of time but was also very light. It was about three feet long, and was always stored in the arm gauntlet of their dominant hand. Swords that long wouldn't fit inside the gauntlet, so they use nanotechnology, in which the nanobots construct and deconstruct the sword within milliseconds, atom by atom. The atoms are carried inside the gauntlet. They also carry energy swords, which were introduced to them by the Sangheili, so they now wield two swords. The energy swords were upgraded, as they could last weeks without charging, and some Airecantians changed the color to personalize it. Kilels fathers' energy sword was black plasma, and he had somehow made the thing to spark red lightning, as to add to the demoralizing and psychological effect. Some only use one of the swords, while the more skilled use both at the same time.

As he charged, the Turian fired at him while picking itself up. Kilel paid no attention to the bullets bouncing off his shields as he continued forward, now pointing his sword straight at the Turian with his fist cocked back.

Upon seeing this, the Turian gathered energy, but instead of throwing it, it gathered it around him. Next thing Kilel knew, the Turian flew towards him, gathering dark energy in his hand. Kilel was surprised by this and did what any other person would do. He threw his left arm up and within milliseconds, a round shield made of the same materials as his Airecantian sword that almost matched his size, appeared. The Turian gave a surprised grunt, but none the less, he slammed his fist into the shield.

It hurt a lot more then Kilel would have expected. The wind was knocked out of him and shook his arm violently, enough to make his arm feel like it was on fire, but he threw his sword arm out over his shield, catching the Turian in the face. It didn't kill it, it just skimmed his face. Or at least Kilel thought it was a he.

The Turian roared in anger. He didn't bother shooting. He just grabbed Kilels' shield and threw him at a Sangheili like a rag doll. He slammed hard enough into the S.T.A.R. agent to deplete both their shields.

"Move!" Kilel pushed himself and the Sangheili towards the warthog as the alien fired.

'Who the hell is this guy?' Kilel thought as he fired another burst at the Turian. The bullets impacted his now recharged barrier, which withered, but held. The Turian threw a ball of black energy at his head, and he pulled his head back behind the burning warthog.

Two S.T.A.R operatives had already been killed, a Sangheili and Jiralhanae, by the Turian with those dark powers. What freaked Kilel out was that there was another person that could do things similar to what he can do.

'I don't even know what this power is; I barely know how to use it myself. This guy's probably been doing this for years.'

All but one of the warthogs had been destroyed, with only the gauss cannon working, but the Turian wasn't letting anyone near it, knowing its destructive capabilities. They had taken defensive positions around the burning vehicles. The Turian was trying to box them in the ally that was a few meters behind them, but they were holding their ground.

Chief slammed into Kilels' back.

"Any ideas?" He asked, wielding an assault rifle and a plasma repeater.

"I have one. May kill me, but I'll take him with me. I need you to distract him long enough to get to the gauss cannon. One shot from that should kill him."

"Got it." He threw a grenade over the warthog, and then darted to the left, firing both rifles.

His barriers withered at the fire, but the Turian threw himself behind cover as the plasma reached him. He gave an annoyed grunt before firing a burst from his rifle, which impacted Chiefs' shields. Regardless, he kept firing at the Turian, gaining his attention away from the cannon.

Kilel ran straight to the gauss, not checking weather or not that the Turian was distracted. Once he got there, he had to flip the warthog; he glanced at Chief fighting the Turian. The alien threw a ball of purple energy which this time, hit Chief in the head. Instead of dropping without a head, he started to float into the air, as if gravity didn't apply to him anymore. The Turian aimed his rifle at John, intending to end his life with a head shot.

"Hello!"

The Turian turned to see were the voice had come from, only to find Kilel behind the gauss cannon.

"And goodbye!" He pulled the trigger.

The Turian didn't have the time to dodge, but he didn't try as the white beam of death came towards him. He threw another purple ball at the cannon.

He was ripped apart by the sheer force of the blast. Not much was left.

Kilel was thrown from the warthog when the ball slammed into the front of the vehicle. He, along with the warthog, were thrown several feet back before coming to a painful stop, in which Kilel had to throw himself left, narrowly avoiding three tons of metal.

"Talk about cutting it close." He said as he glanced at the vehicle a few inches to his right.

"Oy! You alright boy?"

"Fine Doc." Kilel popped his head up from behind the over turned vehicle. He glanced to his left. "You alright John?"

"Fine." He was picking himself up from the small crater he made after gravity reapplied itself.

"We'll have to walk to the landing zone. Most of us."

"You and John will ride the warthog. We'll drop you off, then pick these guys up to work the cannon." Doc stated.

* * *

"Thirty seconds!" Doc yelled at Kilel and John.

"Just drive right through and get everyone else!" Kilel said, holding on to the warthog while grabbing his rifle.

"I heard ya the first time!" Doc turned a corner. "Your stop boys!"

Kilel and John jumped out of the vehicle while Doc ran right through the landing zone, tanking ten Turians out before driving back to pick the other S.T.A.R. agents up. The Turians were somewhat annoyed about this it seemed, for a majority grunted as the warthog drove away, all firing to possibly pick the driver off.

"They look like bastardized Sangheili." Kilel said, igniting his energy sword.

"You just noticed?" Cortana said with some amusement.

"Hey, I was trying not to die out there, I'm sorry if I didn't commend them about how similar they look."

"Well, you were up close and personal with one."

"Damn it Cortana. Don't start this again."

"Enough you two." John said while charging, throwing a grenade, Kilel following close behind, rifle blazing.

The explosive took four out while the gun fire took another three. The Turians were still trying to comprehend what was going on, but figured out quickly, now opening fire on both S.T.A.R. members.

"Come on you bastards!" Kilel said as he slashed one in half while firing at another with is rifle.

John simply kept firing, downing one after another. One tried swinging his rifle to strike John, but the Master Chief caught the rifle, tore it from the Turians grip, then slammed it against its head, shattering both weapon and skull.

Kilel was very much doing the same thing, downing one by one while decapitating a few or splitting them in half.

Some gunships made there way into the air, taking aim at both fighters.

"Incoming!" Docs' voice could be heard as he flew over the small hill. A white beam struck the gunship, tearing the wing off. It spiraled into a second and they both exploded, their burning halls slamming to the ground.

'They must have ran here.' Kilel thought as he saw four more S.T.A.R. operatives coming from the rear, firing their rifles, plasma, slugs, and spikers.

As the fire started poring down, more Turians started falling, the fire from the advance weapons, such as the plasma repeater, were ignoring their shields, while the slugs from the UNSC rifles wore away at them due to their size. It was the same story for the spiker and Airecantian rounds.

"Keep firing! We have them!" Doc said as he fired the Gauss, destroying what looked like a tank.

"Forward!" Kilel shouted. Both a Sangheili, Jiralhanae, and himself charged at the Turians, swords ignited and hammers drawn.

The Jiralhanae was the first to get to the Turians. He swang his hammer, sending three flying. He slammed it into the ground, smashing one and nearly hitting another, but the backwash from the gravity distributor broke a few of his bones, evident by the cracking noise that came firm him. The Sangheili ran his sword through that Turians head, taking it off, and then proceeded to throw two plasma grenades which stuck to another Turians face. The Turian desperately tried clawing it off his face. The Sangheli kicked the Turian towards two others. His head and comrades disappeared seconds after, now replaced with a mist of purple, along with some arms and legs.

Kilel swung his sword 360 degrees, taking three Turians, cutting them in half from their waist.

'This is almost too easy.'

Two Turian charged him. He had enough time to react, which was slashing at the Turians.

Both Turians fell to the floor, one without a head, the other rolling on the ground screaming, clutching his stump of a left arm with blue liquid soaking the ground, Kilel standing above him. Kilel raised his arm, but stopped short when Doc grabbed his shoulder.

"They want to take prisoners."

"Really?" His sword retracted and he took a look at the Turian.

"Well, you're the lucky one. You won't die, but you're a prisoner now. Your fleet doesn't exists anymore."

The Turian simply looked at him, his eyes wide, and he asked a question. Kilel could understand through a new comms unit he had taken, which had all the council species languages. However, he didn't need it, as the Turian spoke in perfect English.

"What-what are you human?"

He raised an eye brow, surprised the Turian knew what humans were, and corrected the Turian.

"I am an Airecantian. And I promise you, you will regret attacking the United Orion Systems."

* * *

"God damn." Scial Keresk said as she looked on at Mankoldon capital. Most of the buildings in the area were barely standing. They were blackened scares in the ground and ruined metal. No bodies could be found, but that was understandable. The capital was much like a city you'd see after a small nuke would go off.

"How many did we loss?"

"Around forty thousand, there may be more Ma'am."

Scial brushed a loose strand of gold hair behind her ear. She rubbed her blue eyes.

"How did they get behind us?"

"We're still working on that."

"Inform my father about this. He'll do what's needed."

"Yes Ma'am."


	6. Invasion

**Sorry it took awhile. Been a little busy.**

**The Fortress-Class ship the Airecantians use is not Forerunner. It's their own ships, NOT FORERUNNER. **

**Don't own ME or Halo. I own OC's and race.**

* * *

The Turian defense fleet of their home world numbered five thousand ships in total, much larger then any other fleet in Council space defending one planet or station, even the Citadel. No one was crazy enough to attack Palaven, defended by one of the largest fleets in Citadel space. They were prepared for anything.

Or so they thought.

In the center of their fleet emerged an Airecantian fleet of three thousand. All but one were the 28 kilometer, Fortress-class warships. The last was the 144 kilometer Leviathan-Class Battle Platform.

The Fortress-class was the main ship of the Airecantian navy. It was shaped like a spear, was a dark steel color, like many Empire vessels, and equaled the size of a supercarrier. It had three times the firepower of one.

"Lock in firing solution." Keresk commanded.

"Locked."

"Fire for effect."

Airecantian military vessels used a mixture of plasma and plasma heated projectiles as a basses for ammunition. Plasma cannons and what they called PHM (Plasma Heated Metal) cannons were used to fire the rounds. PHM cannons did something similar to what the plasma cannon did. After the super heated round was loaded, the projectiles were electrified and heated more so by plasma. Once they had a strong enough electro magmatic field, they fired it much like a sling shot, which gave them unrivaled speed, adding to the damage the weapons did to their target. The energy from these weapons was very deadly to any ship, especially those whose shields could only take kinetic energy. These weapons also had no need to recharge and did not overheat, and could put out fire as long as the weapon was functioning.

As the projectiles hit their targets, ships started exploding left and right. The plasma heated rounds wore away at the ships while the plasma basically ignored the barriers, cutting right through them. Within seconds, almost all the Turian ships had been destroyed, while the survivors were badly damaged. The Turians were outnumbered and overpowered.

Half the fortresses went around cleaning up any of the remaining ships while the others began targeting military and industrial areas.

"Are you jamming their transmissions?"

"Yes." Reverent.

"Bombardment Fire, projector. Commence in 3. 2. 1. Commence firing."

They fired their energy projectors.

These projectors were very much like the ones that the Sangheili use to glass planets. These could both glass and shatter. Shattering a planet is similar to firing Super MAC rounds at a planet. The projector dug itself into the ground, and if enough ships are proceeding with the process, they uplift tectonic plates, causing natural disasters that utterly destroy planets. The detonation is like that of a nuclear bomb going off. However, this wasn't Keresks plan. He wanted to show the Turians that he could hit back much harder then they can without killing all of them.

"Remaining Turian ships are firing at us." Keresks second said. Keresk could see fifty three damaged ships in formation, firing at his Leviathan.

"Shields are holding. No loss." As if Keresk needed to know.

"Target, Cruisers. Sighted Bearing Zero Four Five." His comms went.

"Targeted."

"Commence barrage fire."

His ships plasma laser washed over them, cutting through the shields and slicing the ships in half before they exploded.

'Pathetic.'

"Status on the battle at Harvest and Mankoldon. I'm confident that all forces have been eliminated."

"Harvest and Mankoldon are secure. Capital at Mankoldon was badly damaged due to orbital bombardment. Thousands dead."

"Damn... Alright, bombardment on Capital. Collective Fire. Shoot."

They fired all weapons.

'They will burn.'

* * *

**Two hours later**

The Turians were furious. And actually panicking slightly. Their home world had been attacked. Palaven had been attacked! They were sending all forces in the area that could get to the planet quickly, which was around three thousand ships.

The Turian commander was the only one that didn't seem worried. He had confidence that they would destroy the forces that had attacked Palaven.

"Fools they are." He said quietly to himself while observing his pistol. "I'll make sure that their commander gets what he deserves for this."

"Sir, we're here."

The Turian commander, as well as the entire force, gasped at what they saw. Ships the size of cities were orbiting the planet. There were over a thousand of them in the area. There were smaller burning structures, which everyone recognized as the tombs of fellow comrades. The enemy ships were bombing the planet with a strange weapon. Smoke could be seen billowing from the planet above seas of fire. It almost looked like Palaven itself was burning.

"Spirits." Was the only word he could get out.

A calm and powerful voice came from the transmission they were receiving.

"Attention Turian forces. You have attacked the Airecantian Empire, its allies, and spilt the blood of their people. Because of this, you will feel the wrath of my military."

"Praying won't help you. Your gods can't save you from me."

The last thing the Turian commander saw was a wall of plasma and plasma heated metal before his world was consumed by fire. Only one thought ran through his mind as his body was reduced to ash.

'What demon have we awakened?'

The fleet was destroyed within seconds.

"That was relatively easy." The Helmsman said.

"What can you expect? We attacked with surprise, superior numbers, and better technology." Said Keresk second in command.

"Bulldog," Keresk said to his second. "Send message to Alpha Capital. We see what the Citadel does as a response."

* * *

"If we're able to come to a peace agreement, what is it we're to do? There are two galactic governments; they will feel threatened by us. Both by our military and that there's something similar to them out there. They'll try looking for technology or make technology to match ours."

"There's also the possibility that they will find Forerunner technology or one of the halo Instillation. They could use it as a threat."

"But the only race able to access that technology is Humanity, Airecantians, and Tallorins.

A/N: Airecantians and Tallorins have DNA sequence that almost matches with humans. It's close enough to fool the locks and unlock Forerunner technology. Reason for this is that both races are an evolution of humanity.

"That doesn't mean that there aren't other races that have a similar DNA sequence to that of those races."

"The Asari, their biology is similar to that of all three race, but their DNA is not close enough to access Forerunner technology."

"But that doesn't mean they can't access technology not locked. They can start building on top of what's provided for them."

"So the only way to secure our safety is to find all Forerunner outposts in the galaxy. Any that the Council get to first must be destroyed."

"Agreed." All three men said in union.

"Now, to the case of this Special Tasks Groups the council has."

"No need to worry about them."

"Oh? And what had been done so that this does not warrant out attention?"

"All STG survey teams have been eliminated."

"How did this happen." It didn't sound like a question.

"We had detected an object moving faster then a random object should a few years back. We investigated and found a five man ship. We boarded the ship. The occupants did not live. However, we were able to access their data from the ships computers. It had info for other little incursions that were to take place. Dates, location, what they intended to do, we had it. We kept the ship to study."

"How advance is this 'Mass Effect' Technology?"

"By our terms, low Tier 2. They rely heavily on the substance called Eezo, or element zero. It's used for weapons, shields, ships, almost all their technology is based on this element. It had also accrued to us that they base most of their technology off the Parthonon ruins. They have existed for over a thousand years, but have not advanced their technology, seeing to need to. They're very much stuck technologically."

"So we have a major advantage."

"Yes. We may base our technology on the Forerunners, but we also include many of our own touches. If you want to wage a war, you need to block their access to the Mass Relays. Regular jumps are not as effective as ours. They can only travel about 15 light years a day, while we can jump tens of thousands of light years in a day. You'll also want to find Eezo cashes and not allow them to gain access to them. They need as much of the stuff as thy can get."

"The Emperor will end this war quickly with this information."

"He plans on ending it in three days with or without it." One said while smirking.

* * *

**May 17, 2602:** Battle of Harvest: Turian fleet of 40 attack Harvest force of 82. Turians able to land ground forces, but are easily defeated by UNSC forces.

Humans: 2,300  
Turians: Unknown  
Sangheili: 1  
Jiralhanae: 1

**Bombing of Mankoldon:** Turian force of 72 attack Airecantian force of 300. Turian fleet appeared behind Airecantian fleet. Destroyed half the capital before being wiped out.

Airecantian: 50,000  
Turians: Unknown

**Bombing of Palaven:** Airecantian fleet of 1,000 attack Turian home world. Defense fleet all but wiped out. Airecantian fleet proceed to bombard military installations, industrial areas, and their capital city for two hours before Turian fleet of 500 appear. Turian fleet wiped out.

Turians: Unknown

* * *

"I can't believe the Turian Hierarchy attacked two unknown races. Why didn't Tonn Autcus send a first contact package? Or your second commander? Didn't they learn this lesson after the relay incident?" Verlan.

"From what former Admiral told me, they had activated relay 1789, and he was merely enforcing the law. The other, I'm not too sure. He's dead."

"They don't know of our laws. Both could have just started a galactic war. Why did you pull this on us again Spartues?"

"Don't worry, it won't get to that. We've sent a diplomatic fleet to resolve the matter." Spartues lied.

"I pray this doesn't end badly for us." Tevos.

* * *

"This suspense is killing me. God make this go faster." Keresk said. He was again in _Alpha Capital_. His task force had returned to their original positions, while he had gone back to Alpha, waiting for anything that might have happened. Things had been slow after the Turian attack. It had been three days after the attack on the Turian home world. The Airecantian military was now on high alert, as were the other races of the UOS. The UOS Senate was aware of the situation, as well as the citizens of all races. The general public's reaction was not surprising to Keresk.

Many citizens were excited that more alien life still existed, but after finding out how they had introduced themselves, their feelings changed to anger. They had been attacked by an alien race and hadn't provoked them. They knew that soldiers would die because of this hostile race. They were concerned about the soldiers, but not so much about the outcome of the war. They knew that with all the UOS factions combined military, there was little risk of invasion. The UNSC was much more prepared for a conflict then it had been during the Human-Covenant War. The former covenant races had impressive fleets and ground forces. But possibly the most impressive power resided in the Airecantian military. They had a staggering military size; over millions of ships and trillions of soldiers, a quarter of them with experience in the Belkan War. Their technology was the most advance in UOS space. They could protect their empire, and have ships to spare.

"How long are we going to wait? One week Thel said. Very slow by my standards. I'd rather just go now." He sighed.

"You Airecantians are very impatient." Reverent said.

"Most of the time, I'm the patient one." His comms signaled.

Keresk raised his hand to his ear. "Yes...When did they...I see. Thank you." He turned to Reverent.

"Seems they've changed their minds. We go to the Citadel in in four hours, they've decided to take _Alpha Capital_ to the Citadel, make an impression six thousand ships are to be here before hand." A smirk appeared on his face.

"I am needed elsewhere. Reverent, you are to accompany my son to the Citadel. You help him in anyway you can." He began to walk back to his ship. Reverent simply watched for a few seconds before following Keresk to the docking area of Alpha Capital.

* * *

**Hours later**

"Have the Turian weapons been transported to the UOS research facility on Karon?" Kilel was talking to his father through comms on the bridge of _Alpha Capital_. The fleet that would be accompanying the diplomats was nearly here. six thousand ships were to gather, incorporating the most powerful vessels all factions had in their arsenal. The UNSC had twenty of their five MAC wielding Infinity-Class ships; the former Covenant had ten 54 kilometer Penitent-Class supercarriers, and the Airecantians single 144 kilometer Leviathan Battle Platform. Most of the ships that would be participating would be Airecantian, as they had enough ships to give and to keep.

"Yes. They made it to Karon. They're looking into the technology already. They'll send you the information they dig up. As far as they can see, we keep our weapons."

"That's good to hear."

"It is. Remember what I taught you son."

"Peace first, war later." Kilel said. Keresk gave a small laugh.

"Good luck with the negotiations." The line died.

"It shouldn't take too much to convince them to accept our demands. The fleet we're taking is possibly the largest they've ever seen. It's the largest I've seen. But there might be that one idiot who fires on us."

Reverent shuddered slightly. "I have coordinates to the Citadel. We'll be making the jump in half a minute."

"Very well. Jump when we're in position."

_Alpha Capital _and the six thousand ships with her vanished, leaving Jupiters orbit quiet again.

* * *

"What do you suppose it is?" An Asari was looking at a strange artifact. From what she knew, it wasn't Prothean. It was black, and had sharp enough edges that could cut a person if they weren't too careful. She had tried all known hacking techniques, but they proved futile.

"I don't know. It looks like it would be a computer of some sort." Another Asari answered.

They tried again to get it working. After a few minutes...

"Something's happening!" One shouted in excitement.

The computer started to beep, a low tone, slow beep. It started to pick up speed afterwards before a soft hum could be heard.

"Airecantian History data core activated." A metallic voice said.

Liara T'Soni raised an eyebrow, even though technically she didn't have one. "Airecantian? Is that another race? Let's see." She touched the screen on the computer and data started streaming. The metallic voice also read the data aloud.

"Airecantian: Airecantians have a typical height of 6'10 or higher. They have white to dark tan skin, two eyes, hair on their heads, two arms and legs, five fingers and toes. Physical and sexual maturity reached at two standard months. Two hearts. Physical strength enough to lift a few thousand pounds of weight. Are mostly a military species. All civilians, whether or not in military, are trained like military and are given military grade weapons and armor. Space age around 850 B.C.E. Last update of this core, 1059 C.E."

"Do you see there appearance?" One scientist said in a semi excited voice. "They look almost like Asari."

"And they look exactly like humans." Liara commented. "Amazing."

"Ok, Iron age, rule of Kawlenga, I think, space age, civil war, Belkan War..." She didn't answer for awhile.

"What is it?"

"Goddess... They fought a war that lasted over five hundred years. It stops there. This race could still be in this war of theirs."

"Five hundred years? But how long ago was that according the the data drive?"

"Amazingly, they go by our years. This war was started around the time of the Byzantine Empire on earth, about year 559 C.E. This was last updated on 1059 C.E."

"But that was over a thousand and a half years ago that the war would of started. This race may not even exists anymore. Does it say anything else?"

"It has images and data of their military equipment." She tapped the screen.

"**Kalon Power Armor:** Armor standard for all Airecantian forces. Houses energy shield generator. Armor itself can take repeated fire and high explosives before being compromised. Consists of multiple armor pieces placed together. Houses Airecantian sword in dominant arm. Nano built helmet stored in neck area."

"**AR-30 Assault Rifle:** Airecantian main firearm. Uses only slugs. Mechanics of gun launches slugs through process similar to a Magnetic Accelerator. Rounds come in two variants; High explosive or armor piercing."

"**Centurion:** Main fighter/bomber of the Airecantian Navy. Can carry enough weapons to level an entire city. Shields and MK. X V2 cannons for defense."

"**Hunter-Class:** Recon ship. Used to infiltrate enemy lines. Has impressive firepower and speed for a ship of its size."

Length: 12.692 km

Width: 4.659 km

Height: 1.54 km

Armament: Hundreds of cannons. Can carry 100,000 soldiers, two hundred fighters, twenty assault platforms.

"Goddess, look at the size of these ships! They're over 28 kilometers long!"

"28 kilometers?! But that shouldn't be possible!"

The metallic voice spoke again.

"**Fortress-Class:** The main fighting ship of the Airecantian Navy."

Length: 28.960 km

Width: 11.447 km

Height: 3.563 km

Armament: Thousands of plasma cannons, plasma lasers, and PHM cannons. (Plasma Heated Metal) Hundreds of fighters. Scorpion assault platforms. DPs (Drop pods). Houses hundreds of thousands of troops. Energy projector.

Number produced: 782 billion. More to be built.  
(Large production number due to lose of thousands of ships is single engagements.)

**Leviathan-Class:** Planed Battle Platform. Not yet in construction stage.

Length: 144.8 km

Width: 61.235 km

Height: 21.815 km

**Emperor-Class:** Station to refit ships after battle. Not yet in construction stage.

Liara read for a few more minutes.

"This computer doesn't lie. They had these ships. Millions of them. Their weapons put ours to shame even with how old they are. These naval engagements were massive. And they had the population to support all these ships. They had their own form of FTL travel, and with reading how it works, it works better then ours. Seeing this, they may have been on par or more powerful then the Protheans if that's possible. They had weapons capable of destroying entire worlds in the span of a few days, to the blink of an eye."

"I know I may sound cold, but I'm kind of glad that they don't exist anymore. They seem like the Krogen, only a hundred times worse."

"Um...guys. You may want to see this." One scientist shouted.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and began walking towards the Salerian who had called them. He was standing on the top of a ridge a few hundred meters out. One by one, the scientist made it; and in turn gasped at what they saw.

Hundreds of Fortress-Class ships littered the valley below. Each bared scars, some ranging to straight clean cuts, to gaping holes miles wide. Many ships here had been torn in half, while the fronts of others were smashed in. Liara did notice a small difference between a few ships. One was a dark steel color, while others were a faded light grey color. She prosumed that those were the enemies that the Airecantians had cough during the war.

"Spirits." The Turian security said.

"This is proof that they weren't exaggerating about their war. They had the numbers to fight. And by looking at this, these two races hated each other to no end. The signs say that even when a ship went down, they'd try ramming every enemy ship they could while falling."

"Do you think there's any technology in the ships?"

"I highly doubt it. I'm willing to bet that one side came here after and took everything, even if it stopped functioning. They don't seem like the ones to leave things behind. Especially if the enemy took some of their technology to find its weaknesses."

"What would the size of the engagement look like?"

"To them," Liara said. "This was a small engagement. Their 'normal' engagements are in the tens of thousands. Sometimes they'd loose entire planets, even star systems."

She stopped as another Turian, who was also acting as their security, ran through the fields. When he reached them, he took a moment to breath before speaking.

"We have made contact with two new alien races."

"What? How?"

"Both activated relays. Turians decided to attack both. They wiped us out."

Liara's eyes widened. The Turian military was the best military force in Citadel space. And two races had beaten them back. But what he said next is what took everyone's breath away.

"One of the races attacked Palaven. Wiped out the defense fleet and the fleet sent to retaliate. Nearly ten thousand of the Hierarchies ships have been destroyed. I received a transmission from a ship that took part in the second attack." He activated his omni-tool and played the audio feed.

"Attention Turian forces. You have attacked the Airecantian Empire, its allies, and spilt the blood of their people. Because of this, you will feel the wrath of my military."

"Praying won't help you. Your gods can't save you from me." It ended with the sounds of an explosion.

"Airecantian Empire?" Liara said in astonishment. "They're still alive?"

"Get your things." The Turian said, ignoring her comment. "We go to the Citadel."

* * *

"Attention all ships." Kilel was Supreme Commander of this operation. "Upon arrival, the fleet will divide into various divisions, each one to spread out to surround the Citadel. We will use all Smart A.I.'s to jam all of the Council's long range communications, and should a battle start, short range communications. Remember that I will try negotiating with the council first, so hold your fire unless fired upon or on my command. Follow your orders to the best of your abilities. What we do now may change the galaxy forever. Good luck. Godspeed."

"My brothers and sisters are ready to make peace or rain fire. By your word Kilel." Thel said.

"I thank you Arbiter."

"No thanks are needed. It is an honor to fight by your side again." Kilel gave a small smile.

"One minute."

These moments were the most intense moments for everyone. They waited, counting down to when they would appear before the Citadel.

"We're exciting slipspace."

Kilel then saw the Citadel he has heard so much about. It was comprised of five arms that extended out from a ring where they were all connected.

Kilel couldn't stop himself from laughing, and a majority of his men on the bridge, Airecantian and alien, were joining him.

"Citadel. Like my father told me. Pathetic. Hmph." He took in the defense fleet, which equaled a little over a thousand. His father was right about the ship size. The largest ship here was only three kilometers long.

"We have this. Transmit to all frequencies."

"Yes prince."

* * *

**Asari dreadnought _Destiny Ascension_. Minutes before. Location- Citadel Orbit.**

"I warn them of an impending attack. I told them to sent a large fleet. Instead, they put me on this ship for three days. Both Turian fleets have yet to report, which means they were destroyed." Tonn said to himself. He was on the dreadnought because the Council wanted to keep an eye on him after his recent incident. He had command of the dreadnought as of now, but that was because Lidanya has some business with the council. Tonn just looked out into the far reaches of space, mostly dozing off and repeating in his head how idiotic the council was at the moment.

"Captain!" He had been demoted from Admiral to captain after he had returned. "Strange anomalies are surrounding the Citadel!" Tonn looked around and began seeing blue/ black flashes.

'It can't be.'

Hundreds of ships began to appear, some as small as a cruiser, while one was the size of a planet. He could see the unmistakable design of those UNSC ships. In all, he counted four thousand.

"It's the enemy! They plan on attacking the Citadel!"

"They're sending message on-"

"Forget the message! They are here to destroy the council! Open fire! OPEN FIRE!"

* * *

**_Alpha Capital_**

"This is Kilel Keresk, Prince of the Airecantian Empire, and commander of all military forces you see before you. Three days ago, a race under your jurisdiction, the Turians, attacked the Airecantian Empire and our ally, the United Nation Space Command. We drove them back and retaliated with an attack of our own. We do not know if you ordered them to attack us or if they did so on their own accord, but we would like to end these hostilities between us. But if you swat away the olive branch we hold out to you, we will not hesitate to open fire. Answer in one minute before we burn your station, regardless of choice."

There was no gap between Kilel finishing his sentence as the Citadel fleet fired at his fleet. Most of the fire was concentrated on the AMS _Archangel_, the Leviathan, and the Arbiters Penitent carrier, _Heart of Sangheilios_. But the fire of the 300 ships wasn't enough to get through the shields.

"Always the difficult way." Thel said with a sigh. "Burn their ships. Careful not to damage the Citadel."

_Archangel_ and _Heart of Sangheilios_ let loose its own broadsides, trying not to hit the Citade itself. It was able to destroy the entire fleet within minutes. While this was happening, the Citadel itself was moving, its five arms closing in on each other.

"Reverent, what does the Codex say about this?"

"It seems it's a defensive measure to protect itself. As long as it's closed and intact, we can't get through."

'We'll see about that.' Kilel thought.

"All ships spread out more. Give _Alpha Capital_ some room. She's going to blow a hole in the thing and I don't want anyone getting in her line of fire."

All ships started spreading out, widening their positions around the Citadel. All ships moved relatively quickly. After ten minutes, _Alpha Capital_ was ready.

"Fire."

_Alpha Capital_ opened fire at the Citadel.

The arms of the station did not stand up to the fire of a planetary sized station. Alpha had held back most of its fire as to not destroy the station. The fire burned holes into the Citadel arms big enough that a supercarrier could fly through the holes. One of the arms even broke off the station, but stayed close to the Citadel instead of drifting off.

Kilel took in the sight with a small hint of disgust. He never enjoyed things like this. At least not to people who didn't deserve this.

'And these Turians are to blame for this.'

"Launch DPs and dropships. We take the station. Reverent, you and the other A.I.s keep jamming them. Anything that's not ours let us know. Do not kill the Councilors but anything that fights back you drop. I'll be down there shortly." Kilel said as he watched dropships and drop pods fly towards the Citadel.

'And so ends this war.' He thought.

"Commence Operation: **SKYFALL**, Phase Two."


	7. The Citadel and Palaven

**Sorry about the wait. School's been a bitch a****nd I had to rewrite a few chapters.**

**Don't own ME or Halo. I do own race and OC's.**

* * *

"Cover!"

Kilel threw himself over a pile of metal before the grenade went off, blowing half the pile apart.

"Their explosives are more dangerous then their rifles. The hell's with that?" He said as he fired, killing an asari while forcing many others, turian, asari, and salarians, to cover.

He had boarded the Citadel only a few minutes ago and the forces on the station, who were known as C-Sec, had tried pushing his forces back. They weren't very successful at doing that, as the landing zone for UOS forces had piles of Council races bodies all over.

He took pity on many of the races, especially the Elcor. They looked like miniature elephants, and the fastest they could run was about a walk for him. He saw a small number of of another race, called Quarian, running about, though they seemed to be the last people on anyone's mind.

He kind of regretted firing on the Citadel. With his order, he more or less might have ordered the deaths of millions of civilians, what with the burned out wholes in the arms, added to the fact that one arm wasn't even connected to the Citadel anymore. It would have been better to besiege the Citadel and starve it into submission, but his father had given him specific instruction.

_"End this war now, even if you have to wipe that damn station off the face of the galaxy."_

He could only hope that there would be survivors when he sent search and rescue, they were too occupied at the moment to do anything but hope.

C-Sec wasn't very impressive, but then again, they were here as a security force, not a military, though it was obvious that some did have experience, especially the Turians. But something disturbed him.

He could see humans shooting at them.

They wore the same uniform as C-Sec forces, and their armor was much like those of the Citadel Council.

Humans? How? As far as many knew, the only humans that should exists are the ones everyone knows now; the UNSC.

"Guess those historians were right." He said to himself.

There were many Airecantian historians that believed that their was more then one humanity in the galaxy and that it was the Forerunners that had put humans on multiple planets. They didn't see it as logical to just leave one and hope for the best. What if they were wiped out? The Covenant nearly pulled that. Then who would inherit the Forerunners technology? It could have been Airecantians. But then again, many speculate Airecantians are related to humanity in almost every way. The same appearance was the real kicker. Who would of thought, two races that look identical. They were different in a few ways, as well as the ability to live multiple centuries, but Airecantians were very similar to humans.

At the revelation that they did discover other humans, he had ordered that all non-UNSC humans were to be detained, alive. If they presented too much trouble, say the biotics, they had the right to shoot them. He didn't want hard relations between these humans. They needed to be careful. If the UOS just played its cards right...

"Damn!" He was strafed by four or five C-Sec officers, bringing his shields down. He fired a short burst at all before he went back to cover.

"I'm thinking too much on a battlefield. My father would kill me if he knew that."

"We have incoming hostile fleet. Scans indicate that there are human life forms on the ships. Disabling." Said a voice on the battle-net.

Kilel glanced out the window at the fleet right outside. One of the Infinity-Class cruisers fired at the incoming System Alliance fleet, slamming into the back portion of the ships. They detonated, but were still left intact, now just flouting uncontrollably in space. Multiple UOS ships began launching smaller craft, now bound for the disabled ships.

"You'd think this humanity would be technologically higher then some of the other races here." He said, slightly disappointed at how easily their fleet had fallen. He keyed his comm unit. "Doc, how many prisoners?"

"We already have thousands, more are to come. We have half the station, should we send search and rescue parties to the parts we control?"

"Send them. We need to save as many as we can."

"Alright Kilel."

"Right." Kilel said. "Mgalekgolo up front, keep their heads down! Sangheili, to the rear! I need covering fire!" He turned to the group of twenty Airecantians behind him.

"Swords! Shields! Out!" Each ignited their energy sword while their shields open on the arms.

"Doc, you and the stealth's in position?"

"Just a sec... In position. Ready to go on your signal."

"Hit it."

The line of reinforced C-Sec forces lit up with plasma blasts and bolts from the rear, and a good number fell before they knew what had happened. At this the hunters charged, not waiting for the command to do so.

"Damn Mgalekgolo are going to get all the fun!" One Empire soldier shouted in some dismay.

"Forward!"

"UURRAAHH!" They gave their war cry before jumping over cover, using their shields to block incoming fire as they moved forward. Amazingly, the C-Sec forces stood their ground.

And we're subsequently slaughtered.

"Idiots." One Sangheili soldier said, poking at one of the bodies with his rifle. "They see a superior force charging them, and decide to stand their ground? A noble jester, but a very pointless death."

"I have to give them credit though," Kilel said. "They're very brave. Few others have stood their ground against an Airecantian charge. The only other two being Tallorians and Sangheili." He said as he looked at one of the unconscious humans. "How many worlds do you think they have?"

"They don't have many, if their fleet numbers are anything to go by." Answered Doc.

"Huh." Kilel said. "Do we have an update on Armada Akula?"

"They've invaded every planet in Hierarchy space. Heavy casualties on Palaven, but many planets are falling rather quickly. The Empire should have control of the region in a few days, a week at most. Dead are expected to be in the millions."

"Millions. Damn. Was it necessary to invade Turian space?" A human marine asked.

"If you want to show a military force what war really is, yes. Keresk is known for devotion to his Empire, and he makes sure his soldiers are too. They'd go great lengths to protect what they hold dear, even at the cost of millions." Doc answered.

"Not only that," Kilel continued. "It was the Turians that attacked us first, and Airecantians aren't known to take a hit a leave it be. No, we make sure to throw a blow eight more times and just as hard. But enough talk. We need to take this station. Mgalekgolo back in front." He ran forward, the others trailing behind them.

* * *

"These Turians are harder to suppress then I thought." Keresk said, firing his rifle and killing three Turians with head shots.

He was currently on the Turian homeworld, Pavalen, fighting for control of the planet. His fleet had arrived here only two hours ago, decimating the small Turian fleet that was rebuilding. After they had gone forward with their normal tactic, which they called 'Shattered Planet'. Basically, instead of a specific landing zone to drop off troops and other equipment, millions of soldiers would be dropped in mass on multiple areas of the planet, securing multiple LZ's, ensuring that if one fell, hundreds more would stand. It has a tactic that the Empire has used since the opening days if the Belkan War, and it was working perfectly in this one. A quarter of the planet belonged to the Empire, with his forces gaining more ground every minute. The casualties were smaller then he anticipated, but were non the less staggering. He wasn't risking anymore lives by needlessly charging groups, they were successful at taking areas quickly, but he was loosing just one more man in each charge. Any time his forces were bogged down, they'd call for air support or an orbital strike, which were amazingly effective. If his forces continued at their current rate, they'd have the planet by nightfall, in two days at most.

"Oh damn it." Keresk said as a biotic ball flew at him, impacting him and throwing him against the wall of a building.

"Those biotics are almost cheating." Keresk said, peeling his body off the wall.

He flew forward, catching the Turian by surprise, before throwing a fist into the Turians head with enough force for it to explode in a puff of purple.

'Almost.'

"You'd think they'd have natural protection. I mean their skin is slightly metallic due to the radiation this planet has, but it's as if I'm smashing a human skull." Keresk said to himself, glancing at his bloody hand.

"I need strike package on section Alpha nine-four-one November. I need the whole placed leveled." Said an Airecantian on his left.

"Copy. Strike package_ Phoenix_ incoming, ETA ten seconds, danger close. Recommend staying away from any buildings."

"A _Phoenix_ strike package? Damn, we're laying it on these bastards hard."

"Who cares?" One soldier asked. "Not me."

"Incoming!"

The resulting shockwave threw everyone to the ground, and lifted anyone on the ground only to throw them back down. The buildings around the vicinity were blown apart by the force alone, with some completely shattering, while others were toppled. The roar of the wind deafened everyone within miles of the blast radius. One Airecantian pointed to a building that began listing towards them, and they quickly made a run for it, but were unable to out run the thing, which fell right on top of them.

"Damn!" Shouted one from inside the fallen building. "The hell! That was too close!"

"Are you alright Emperor?"

"I'm fine. Next time, we call the strike when we're on the damn ship. This has happened all too often before."

"Really? How many times have you had a building fall on you Emperor?"

"I stopped counting a two hundred. And that was within five years."

* * *

"These barbarians just used a nuclear weapon!" Shouted a Turian from atop a building, fifth miles away from the initial impact zone of nuclear ordinance. He had just sent a majority of his own forces to that area to stop the advancing humans, and they had wiped them out, nearly ten thousand soldiers, with a weapon that was outlawed by the Citadel Conventions. These humans didn't care about that obviously.

"Humans." He thought. How had they done it? They had ships that were the size of entire cities in orbit, with weapons that fired slugs, slugs of all things, and they were cutting right through kinetic barriers. Their armor could take a beating, and the humans were much stronger then they were supposed to be, which said genetic augmentation. The worst part was that none of this new technology had no traces of Ezzo. No Ezzo! How in the name of the spirits did they create such technology? 28 kilometer ships would take an unprecedented amount of resources to construct and maintain, and they even had a 144 kilometer ship! That's three times the size of the Citadel! The damned Citadel! And it was a warship, one that could probably destroy a planet by itself.

He knew this was a lost battle. No matter how much the Turians fought, they would ultimately lose to the humans. They had invaded the entity of Hierarchy space, and multiple planets had already fallen, Pavalen would likely be the last, but at the rate the humans were moving, they'd take the planet by night fall.

"What did we do to deserve this?" He asked himself quietly, looking out at the formation of multiple mushroom clouds.

* * *

"We have K/C orders on Councilors, so watch your fire; we need them alive if we want to end this war quickly." Kilel said as they made their way to the Presidium. From the latest intel, the Council was held up in the tower, which was the only safe place for the Council. The estimated number of C-Sec force was around fifty, possibly sixty.

"The only way up other then elevator is by dropship or magnetize. We'll be doing both. Our team will magnetize, while Airecatian SIGMA goes by ship, they'll wait till we get there. Expect resistance, they has some mechs and automated defenses in our path, so play it safe. ETA to Presidium; five minutes. Check your gear before we head out." All the soldiers, Airecantian of otherwise, quickly checked themselves, then the person in front of them.

"We're all go sir." A Spartan announced.

"Start climbing."

* * *

"How did this come to be?" Tevos asked herself as she glanced out the Presidium at the armada of ships taking siege on the Citadel. She had to think, 'Why would Tonn fire on a fleet that size?' It was his fault; he had ordered the Citadel fleet to fire before she had time to respond. The entire fleet had been wiped out, and then they fired at the Citadel, and somehow had been able to punch through it. The Citadel arms, 330m thick arms, had been burned though within seconds, by a station that out sized the Citadel. And 'out sized' was an understatement. With all communications jammed, they were at the mercy of these invaders.

"They've taken the Zakara wards!"

"Heavy fighting near the Presidium! We need re-AAAHHH!"

"Damn! They're charging w-with swords! Fall back damn it! Fall b-"

"Goddess, they took off one of the Citadel arms!"

And these aliens didn't seem very merciful.

"Why, Sparatus?" She asked, turning to her fellow Councilor. "Why? Why must the Turians attack every species that opens a relay?!"

"As I said before, we were upholding Citadel law. It's not as if we wanted this to happen." Sparatus said through gritting mandibles.

"As I said before, they did not know of our existence until you attacked them! They may have opened a relay, but that doesn't dictate you to start shooting! Now look where we are! The Citadel is under siege with thousands dying every minute! One of the arms isn't even connected to the Citadel for goddess sake! You and your commanders have destroyed the Citadel Council; over a thousand years of work and the blood of millions were just thrown away! If we weren't in this situation, I'd strip the Turian Hierarchy of their Council statues!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was more of a knock then anything else, and the Councilors looked around in wonderment, trying to find the source of the knock. They finally found it, on the other side of the Presidium window, was a armor suited being clinging on the glass. It was humanoid, and as Tevos could see, it had five fingers on it's hands. The alien gave a small wave to the stunned Councilors and C-Sec guards before placing a small device on the window and it quickly moved away. Seconds later, the window blew open.

Considering that the Presidium was surrounded by atmosphere, there was no need to worry about depressurization or dying from affixation. The windows blew forward, showering everyone with glass. That's when the first of the aliens began firing at C-Sec, while the wall behind them exploded, reveling more of the first aliens, firing at the exposed rear of C-Sec.

C-Sec was unable to do much against the two opposing squads on two sides; they couldn't concentrate their fire enough. Only a minute had passed since the firefight began, and at the end, all the C-Sec forces were dead.

"Get them on their knees." One alien said, pointing at the Councilors. Three of the larger aliens moved swiftly, literally kicking the Councilors to the floor.

"Good day Councilors." The first alien said. "My name is Kilel Keresk, prince of the Airecantian Empire. Now I'd like to know your names."

"I am Councilor Tevos, representative of the Asari Republics. My companions are Councilor Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy and Councilor Valern of the Salarian Union." Tevos said in a clam and leveled voice.

"May I ask why you decided to fire on us when we asked for peace talks? Was that you Sparatues?" Kilel said with a cold voice, glancing at Sparatus.

"No. It was a Turian captain that panicked."

"So one captain did all this." Kilel glanced around at the C-Sec bodies. "Well, I need you to do me a favor."

"And...what would that be?" Valern asked hesitantly.

"I need you to call off all forces engaging UOS forces, both on the Citadel and Hierarchy space."

"Hierarchy space?!" Sparatus.

"Oh, that's right, you haven't heard. Hierarchy space had been invaded. We have a majority of your worlds and Pavalen will fall by nightfall, regardless if you surrender or not. I'd like you to call of your forces as to avoid more bloodshed, both for your military and mine. I'd rather not have to use more nukes then I have to."

"You've used nuclear devices on Pavalen?! What sort of animals are you?!"

"The ones who fight back ten fold when attacked because we broke a law we didn't know excited. Besides, what difference does it make? You fired mass accelerator rounds at a colony of mine, and you don't seem to regret it. I will not shed tears for one who has no justification on judging my people by the way they fight war when the other fights war just the same. Now, you WILL tell your forces to stand down before I burn your worlds until they are nothing but glass."

"I will do it." Tevos said, picking herself up.

"Lead the way." Kilel said. He pointed at two SIGMA operatives, then pointed at Tevos, and the two began to follow her as they made their way to the elevator.

"Why did you invade the Citadel?" Valern asked. "You could have easily destroyed it and taken Council space nearly unchallenged."

"It wouldn't be as fun." Kilel said. "Besides, we never planed on taking control of your government. We are here for peace talks. We're perfect as we are right now, and I don't need a few other races to mess that up. They're your problem for now."

"What do you mean 'for now'?"

"You'll see in the coming years."

* * *

**Tell me how I did, and what you think of the Airecantians. But know this. I'm not making it poetic justice that the Turians get bombed. This is just how the Airecantians react to an enemy.**


	8. Negotiations

**Not much to say at the moment.**

**Don't own Halo or ME. I do own my OC's and race.**

* * *

"Damn it! There had to be a corridor or some passage or something to help us get through this! Where the hell is it?!" A women all but screamed. She was wearing a white lab coat, though it was partially ripped on the sleeves, what with her hands gliding on smooth and sharp surfaces. Her skin was white, though not like snow, with brown hair that reached an inch or two past her shoulders, and bright blue eyes that anyone could loose themselves in. She was just below seven feet, the same height as her husband.

This woman was Maykial Keresk, wife of Emperor Keresk. She was currently on Installation 00, or the _Ark_. She was here with the science team that had dedicated a great portion of their lives trying to unlock all the secrets if the station. 10 years they had given, quite some time, though for Maykial, it was more of a blink of an eye to her. Or at least it would have been if her husband and kids where here.

"You said there was suppose to be a passage way in this area?" She asked the human male behind her.

"Yes. Scans say that it's on the other side of this wall. The only problem is we can't find the door."

"Isn't that obvious?" She sighed. "Why didn't Reverent tell us about this?"

"It's quite possible that he couldn't gain access to the entire system himself. Remember, he wasn't the orig-"

"Open already!" Maykial screamed banging the wall a few times before throwing her weight on it.

Boom!

"Ow!" She found herself on the floor.

"Hey! Look at that! You opened it!" The man said. He walked up to her. "Seems your impatience payed off this time."

"Screw you Dan." She glared at him while picking herself up.

"You know, I'm surprised you were even able to get the passage open. That wall wouldn't budge for anything." He looked around.

"Then how did I open it?" Maykial asked, rubbing her shoulder.

"Actually, that was me." A synthesized voice answered.

Both Dan and Maykial froze, recognizing a synthesized voice when they heard one.

A monitor.

"I'm guessing that you are the monitor of the Ark?"

"Not exactly. If you could help me out of containment, I'd be happy to assist you." The voice said.

"Where are you?"

"Continue straight down this hall, make a left at the first crossway, and I'll be in the container at the center of the room."

They both began down the hall, who's walls were bare of anything, even the specific designs the Forerunners were known for. Dan decided that the room was built for practicality then artistic praises. As they made their way to the containment, they entered a room, possibly a few hundred feet across, though it wasn't the biggest room on the station. Arches landed from wall to wall, all of them converging at the center where a large white cylinder enclosed a pedestal of some sort. The cylinder was partially see though, as you could make out a few shapes, with a control panel in front.

"There you are. I'm in this cylinder. If you could go to the panel and release me." He repeated.

"Why are you even in here?" Dan asked, placing his hand on the panel. The cylinder snapped to the right, before snapping to the left, then gently lifting itself, revealing a flouting teardrop-shaped casing with three eyes and a glyph in the center. All three eyes were glowing blue.

"Ah. Thank you. It's only been a little past fifty years, but that's relatively long to me."

"You never answered my question."

"Oh yes! My apologize Reclaimer. I was in that containment module for protection purposes. When the _Ark_ detonated along with instillation 04, this was one of the few rooms that survived the blast. Unfortunately, the module was damaged to the point to where I could not open it myself."

"So you've been here the whole time? Even when John-117 was here?" Maykial asked.

"I only made it here when the Key ship came here. I was on the ship, and I tried assisting the Reclaimer when we arrived, trying to redeem myself."

"Redeem yourself from what?"

"It is a rather touchy subject. I wish not to speak about it. But enough of that, I must introduce myself. I am 05-032 Mendicant Bias, Forerunner combat AI. I am here to help you Reclaimers. And I can see that your two species have survived. How wonderful. Follow me please." The AI flew past Dan and Maykial, beginning its short journey to the Forerunner archives.

"You seem a bit more in control then Guilty Spark." Dan said.

"I remember, he was here as well. How is he?" The AI asked.

"He, uh, when rampant." Maykial answered

"Oh. Well...that is unfortunate."

"You don't seem really conflicted with this information." Dan said.

"It's not as if I'm not saddened with what happened, it's just hard to break up about it. I didn't know Guilty Spark well, only seeing him twice during the Forerunner-Flood War."

"Forerunner-Flood War... Guilty told us a little about that, as did Reverent Warrior."

"Reverent Warrior? He's still alive?"

"He's alive and well." Maykial said. "He's on _Alpha Capital_, aiding with the war effort."

"You are in a war? Oh my, I'm not up to date with these events. One moment please." Mendicant began glowing slightly brighter for a few seconds before he spoke again.

"Ah, now I see. So you met this Citadel Council rather violently. Asari, Turians, Salarian, all these races survived. That's rather surprising, though welcomed none the less." Mendicant said as he approached the panel. He glanced at it for a few seconds, his eyes dimming slightly, before a thin, hair like white beam shot from his center into the panel.

"Guess the fix goes to the microscopic level." Dan said.

"There. You should be able to access my creator's data." Mendicant said, turning to them.

"What was wrong with the DNA scanner?"

"It was damaged, and never repaired properly. The device requires a blood sample in order to function, and that component was never there. Though Reverent Warrior is a monitor, he is not the _Arks_'. I've been here long enough to work all the systems on the instillation." Mendicant said. "Go ahead." He motioned to the panel.

Dan placed his hand on the panel, the platform glowing a soft white, Dan feeling a strange lightness in his hand before the large four story door opened.

"Finally!" Maykial screamed in joy, booking it straight through the now open room, leaving two startled and staring males.

"Is she always like this? I don't remember Airecantians getting excited over much during the time of my Creators." Mendicant asked, the closest thing to question on his 'face'.

"Only when she does what we love, which is everything about Forerunners." Dan replied, and both Mendicant and Dan winced at the squeal coming from the women inside.

* * *

**Citadel**

"All Citadel forces, this is Councilor Tevos. Stand down; cease further hostilities against the invaders. I repeat, cease further hostilities against the invaders. If you keep fighting, you won't have a home to go back to."

All fighting on the Citadel stopped almost immediately at those words. The remaining C-Sec forces dropped their weapons, hands raised, an expression of grim acceptance on their faces. They knew it was going to end like this, either by death or surrender. Many were thankful for the latter. They watched as alien, and to the dismay of many, human marines began taking them to the makeshift camps for prisoners. At these camps, injured we're attended to, which surprised many, seeing as they had fired at the Citadel, and were only a second ago trying to kill everyone on the station. Some prisoners even asked the aliens a few questions, and the aliens would respond, as long as it wasn't about military hardware. They only gave vague answers, but were polite enough.

In the arms of the Citadel, multiple search and rescue parties were going from building to building, taking the survivors out and to medical centers they had set in the Citadel's many hospitals, the ones not destroyed by the initial assault. Though a few were reluctant to leave with aliens or traitor humans as they saw it, they none the less compiled, their need to survive outweighing their unease. Their reaction was much like the prisoners of war.

The main three Council members themselves were still in the Presidium, now where the lesser council races would stand when meeting with the Council, while Kilel stood where Tevos would normally stand, staring down at the Councilors. He had to smirk inwardly; here he was, Kilel Keresk, prince of the Airecantian Empire, standing where the supposed most influential leaders of galactic government would, staring down at said leaders with the demands of unconditional surrender after they had suffered a short but devastating war, mostly for the Turians.

He only took comfort staring down at the Turian Councilor. He mostly avoided eye contact with the other two, staring at their foreheads.

"I trust the message was sent to Hierarchy space?"

"They will receive it shortly." Tevos said. Spartues glanced at the ground before continuing to glare at Kilel.

"Good. Now, we will discuss the terms of surrender. I apologize in advance if some terms seem unethical, but it is necessary. Are we clear?"

"Very well." Tevos and Valern said in union, while Spartues simply nodded. "What are your demands?"

"We'll start with a simple one. After this war is over and all UOS forces are removed from Citadel space, no Citadel ships will be allowed into UOS space without a pass, while military vessels are prohibited to enter UOS space at any time. The United Orion Systems will recognize this as well, and show the Citadel Council the same courtesy. If these requirements are not met, said peace treaty will be rendered null and void. Do you accept these terms?" Kilel asked.

"We accept these terms." Spartues said.

"Very well. Next; the Turian Hierarchy is to pay reparations to the UOS, a total of one hundred fifty two billion credits to pay for the damage caused by this war, as well as the mobilization of the UOS military. If these requirements are not met, this peace treaty will be rendered null and void. Do you accept these terms?"

"One hundred fifty two billion credits?! How much radiation has your skull absorbed to think we'd pay that?!" Spartues all but shouted.

"Over a hundred billion credits is rather mediocre to what we need. The UOS military was mobilized with the assumption that the Turian Hierarchy would invade once more. Couple that with the Empire military's invasion Hierarchy space, the attack on the Citadel, and the deployment of the largest space station we've created, it adds up to six hundred fifty two billion Airecantian Capitals, about eight hundred billion in Council credits. We are paying for most of it, but you must take the weight for the damage you caused to UNSC colony Harvest and Empire colony Mankaldon, as well as the dead that defended their homes, and the families of the dead."

"We will accept this." Tevos quickly said.

"What are you thinking Tevos?! The kind of capital they're asking for could cripple our economy!" Spartues said, eyes now bloodshot. Tevos glanced at him, but was cut off before she could reply.

"She is well aware of that." Valern stated. "But do you have any better propositions? If you haven't notice, we don't make the demands, they do." He said, glancing at the Turian. He didn't respond, so Tevos looked forward once more.

"Very well. Next; the lesser races of the Council are to slowly be admitted as full Council members."

"You do realize that this demand in itself might take centuries to become a reality?" Valern asked.

"The other council members are not yet ready to take the responsibility of full membership. They have not proven themselves as of yet. But the possibility of becoming a Council member was never denied." Said Spartues.

"I understand this, though with all the requirements needed to be accepted as a Council member guaranty that the lesser species would have to do nothing short of defending the Citadel themselves from this attack. That is why, as the Councilors of the three member races, it is also your responsibility to help prepare the lesser members for full membership, such as helping them develop their economy to match yours, or fund the construction of a formable military that fits that races requirements. I am not demanding that they become members at this moment, which would not bode well with Galactic government. We are asking that you help them, as so they are more prepared when the responsibility is thrown upon them."

"These demands are reasonable." Spartues said, a little shocked that the demand was all that reasonable. Maybe he was being too bias.

No, they attacked Pavalen. That was reason enough to mistrust them.

"Next; the Turian Hierarchy will give the UOS the Turian commanders who instigated this war. Said commanders will be tried by a military and civilian court who will decide what is to become of them. We will forgive the bombing of the Empire colony Mankoldon if this requirement is met. If not, the Turian Hierarchy will pay an additional ten billion credits. You are to make your choice now."

"I'm sorry to say that it will not be possible to give you the commanders." Valarn said.

"And what reasoning is behind that?"

"They're dead."

"Oh...well, that clears everything. This demand in considered null and void. You will not be required to pay the fifty billion." Kilel said, waving his hand dismissively.

"What gave you the idea that we would hand them over to you if they were alive?" Spartues sneered.

"As I stated earlier, they started this war by invading a UNSC colony and bombing an Empire one. Had they contacted us peacefully and explained why it is unsafe to open a dormant relay, we would have complied, and we would have met much more peacefully instead of bombing the Citadel. Do not blame the UOS for starting this war. Those 'commanders' are the ones to blame. Now on to the next demand."

* * *

**Pavalen**

"All Hierarchy forces, this is Councilor Tevos. Cease further hostilities against the invaders. I repeat, cease further hostilities against the invaders."

General Valkerin could still hear Councilor Tevos words on the battle-net, ringing in his ears. It didn't surprise him that they lost. It was guaranteed that they'd loose, it was only a matter of when. He was thankful that it was sooner. With the Airecantians setting off nukes and firing kinetic strikes, they'd render this planet uninhabitable if it continued by nightfall.

The Airecantians had given him information that the Citadel had been attack at the same time the Hierarchy space was, by a galactic power known as the United Orion Systems, or UOS for short, comprised of six races, with five governments representing them. The race that attacked Hierarchy space were an alien race called Airecantians, or as many Turians called them, 'Krogen on steroids.' They were even more militaristic then the Turians, as shown by their military might and size. He'd even figured that the Human System Alliance weren't the only humans in the galaxy. How was that possible? He didn't believe it at first, but many of the humans that were on planet were showing just as much shock as he was, even military personnel. Both humanities were similar and different in ways, especially technologically, enough so that he was convinced. Now, he was in a prisoner camp, where they were treating a burn that he had on his left mandible from those damn slug throwers. He noticed that a few injured Airecantians were here as well, one particularly with a large gash on his side. The man should have been bleed out within minutes, but some strange substance was keeping him alive. Something called biofoam. It acted like some kind of biological cork and pain reliever. It stopped the bleeding, but glowed a strange green. It was keeping many alive, both Turian and Airecantian.

"Ow!" He shouted as a female Airecantian jabbed his chest with a needle.

"Hold still. You're bleeding a little too fast. We'll get to you as soon as we can, but we're dealing with others right now. Just don't move too much." She said as she injected biofoam into his unknown wound.

"Thank you." He said as he noticed his breathing became easier.

"Mhm." She mumbled as she began working on his burn.

As much as he hated to admit, he wasn't so sure he'd give them the same treatment if they had been the prisoners of war instead. He'd have them executed on the spot, and seeing as to what these people were treating them, he couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself. These people could do the same to him, but they chose to treat the wounded, and they showed respect to everyone, regardless of if that Turian might have killed a friend or not.

Now he was thinking of future events. Now that this UOS had introduced itself, it would be hell for the years to come. Some would panic that there was a government just like the UOS, one that could win a war against the Citadel Council, which it already did. Six more species had been introduced, unfortunately, rather violently, and that would affect species relationships. There might be much hostility between many, and it was unknown if some took certain comments as a threat and decide to kill because of it. Military wise, the Citadel would begin researching better technology to combat the UOS, with military equipment being produced at much higher numbers, along with recruitment. Specters and STG would begin espionage in UOS space if they could. Politically, there would be the problem of losing member races. At the prospect of the Citadel and Hierarchy space being invaded, many would question if the Council could protect them, and then the possible withdraw of their governments, who would then join the UOS. If they didn't leave the Council, they would demand a seat on the Council, and try gaining support through the UOS.

Troubling times were ahead, Valkerin was sure of it.

"This galaxy loves to throw curve balls at us doesn't it?" He said. He thought he got the human metaphor right.

Apparently he did, as the women answered back without hesitation. "You're telling me. I didn't think we'd meet another alien race this soon. Yet here we are."

"Just wait a few years, we'll probably find more."

"Another headache." She said. She pressed lightly on the bandage on his face, making sure it would stay on. "Alright, come one." She said while helping him stand and walk to a makeshift operating table. "Let's close this wound."

* * *

"You don't seem to like Turians very much Emperor."

"It's not the Turians themselves I dislike. It's the idiotic government that has the procedure of shooting anything opening a relay, or the commanders who decide not to question their orders and proceed with it to the end. That is not how a healthy military is to be formed." Keresk said as he glanced at the many Turian prisoners. They weren't prisoners per say. They didn't lock them up and leave them like you'd think, he'd let them wander to a certain existent.

He had to give the Turians credit, they were very brave. At the prospect of finding a fleet of ten thousand city sized ships and advance weapons technology, the Turians responded as they normally would; they retaliated. Many even stood their ground when Airecantian units charged their positions, and kept fighting even when the radioactive fallout was literally raining on them. They had his respect.

"Emperor, the Empress is hailing you." One soldier said, holding a holo pad.

"Very well. Leave me." Keresk said, taking the holo pad. His soldiers left and he tapped the pad.

His wife, Maykial, was standing in the middle of a room Keresk hadn't seen on the Ark before. Her lab coat was ripped, though more so then it should have been, and many other scientist, human of otherwise, were running to and fro behind her.

"Is something wrong Maykial?" Keresk asked, raising an eyebrow at the scene before him.

"Is something wrong? I'd say everything is right!" She shouted triumphantly, throwing a fist in the air. Keresk raised his eyebrow even higher. She was kind of acting like a child. Sure, it was fun when she was home with him, but over there...

"And what is it that has you all riled up?"

"We've unlocked the Forerunner Archives on the Ark."

Keresk eyes widened, which hurt since it was a rare gesture for him. They've finally unlocked the data? It was keeping all scientists at bay with the DNA locks that would not respond to even human DNA. But they were able to make it work. How'd they do it? Did they try both Human and Airecatian DNA at the same time?

"How'd you do it?" He asked his wife.

"We explored much of the Ark, and Reverent was able to find a passageway. It wouldn't open for anything, until another monitor, Mendicant Bias, opened it for us and repaired the DNA panel. He explained to us that why he was there, and that he was ashamed of what he did during the time of the Forerunners. He helped fix components at the sub atomic level. We were able to access the archives. Military, medical, and civilian technology is going to hit a boom. We also have historical data, ranging from an ancient humanity that achieved Tire One technology, the Forerunner-Human War, to the Forerunner-Flood War. We have everything except for improved FTL travel."

"The data was corrupt wasn't it?"

"Sadly yes. But that's just a small down side. Everything else is open and ours for the taking. I'll be sending this info to all governments so we can begin building this tech. Just thought I should let you know honey." She said with a big smile.

"Thanks Maykial." Keresk said with a soft smile. "How long until you're back to Airecant?"

"About another ten months. With the finds we get here, we're going to get busy."

"Oh damn it." Keresk cursed, now a frown adorning his features.

"Sorry Alito. I know it's been ten years, but this is very important." His wife said with a defeated tone.

"I understand Maykial. I'll talk to you later."

"Love you Alito."

"Love you too Maykial." Keresk cut the connection, then sighed right after, rubbing his eyes.

"Sometimes I hate my wife's occupations." He scratched his head.

"I hear ya' sir." Bulldog said on the side, shaking his head. Keresk had to smirk at this.

* * *

**Citadel**

"...built in order to house Citadel citizens who's homes were destroyed. In a few days, the main bulk of UOS forces will leave Citadel space, leaving token forces around the Citadel and Hierarchy space for defense duties until they have the ships and numbers to defend themselves once again. This is not part of the treaty, and you have a choice of accepting or denying this offer."

"We accept this generous offer." Tevos stated, relived that they alone wouldn't accommodate alone for the civilians who had lost their homes on the Citadel. From what Kilel had said, they were already building what was known as a 'Living Station'; a station about five kilometers long that would house a few of the civilians. Over a hundred were being built, in case the numbers of civilians were too large.

'Let's see how they react to this curve ball.' Kilel thought. This was one way to get what the UOS needed.

"We are now onto our final term. The last demand is; the Systems Alliance is to be evicted from the Citadel Council and annexed by the United Orion Systems, more specificity the United Nations Space Command."

He could see clearly on their faces that they were shocked by this term. It wasn't, however, the kind of shock he was expecting. He was expecting a 'why would we do that?' shock, when instead he got a 'why would you want them?'

"You don't seem too conflicted about this."

"It's not that we aren't. We just never expected a demand remotely close to that." Valern said, rubbing his chin. "If I may ask, what interest do you have in the Systems Alliance?"

"I see it as simple; there cannot be two human governments. One is always bound to clash with the other, and some of these clashed can be bloody, possibly start another war between the UOS and Citadel. We see it as a better alternative to annex the Systems Alliance with our human government, the United Nations Space Command. They could represent humans as a whole, without the major political and possible military conflict that would no doubt take place."

"I see much sense in that." Spartues said. "Know this though; we will have to vote on this. The lesser members must decide what they want. Know that you may not get what you want."

"If the vote states otherwise, you are to force them out of the Citadel Council. We have to try this one way or another. It they are voted out, we will decrease the reparations by ten billion credits, while force will be twenty billion."

Spartues shook his head in amazement. They wanted the humans that bad? Enough to where they were willing to shave off twenty billion credits? Why in the name of the spirits would be not accept this?! By glancing at his fellow Councilors, he could see the same thoughts running through their heads.

"We accept these terms." They all said in union. Kilel couldn't help but smirk, which looked like a smile to the Councilors.

"Very well. I am sending a copy of the peace treaty. You will be sent to your respected homeworlds to discuss it with the rest of your people. I will give you two days to sign this treaty before it is rendered null and void. I have ships waiting for you." He said as he gestured to the exit. The Councilors started to the exit, with SIGMA troopers following them closely. All would be brought to their homeworlds in UNSC frigates. There was no need to scare the population of the other two Council races, while the Turians, well; it wouldn't matter at all, since there was a fleet of ten thousand ships in their orbit.

"Kilel? Are you there?" A voice came from his comms.

"Yes father?"

"Are you still in negotiations?"

"We just finished. We were able to convince the Council to hand us the Systems Alliance, and I can only hope the annexation is smooth."

"If the UNSC plays it right, it will be alright. I've received word from your mother that they have unlocked the information on the _Ark_."

"The _Ark_? They finally did it?" Kile asked in surprise.

"Yes son. She's sending all the data to the UOS governments, and they'll begin producing this technology."

"So how are we going to start father?"

"Like we always do, we focus on military and medical tech first. Civilian comforts can wait. Colonization is another we must focus on. We have a lot of work ahead if us Kilel." Keresk said with a small chuckle. Even he was getting excited about this technology boom.

"Yes we do father. Yes we do." Kilel said, a small smile of his face.


	9. Post War

**Don't own Halo or ME. I do own OC's and Airecantians.**

* * *

**May 17, 2602:** Battle of the Citadel- UOS force of six thousand ships and Alpha Capital attack the Citadel. Citadel fleet is completely destroyed before invasion of the Citadel. It is taken within hours, with all three Councilors captured. Kilel Keresk conducts negotiations of the peace treaty. This marks the end of the UOS-Citadel War, though many also call it the Aire-Turian War, due to the Empire's full scale invasion of Hierarchy space.

Citadel Races: (both military and civilian) 4.5 million

UOS forces: 62,342

**Invasion of Hierarchy Space:** The Empire invade the territory of the Turian Hierarchy, attacking every planet they posses. Some fall within hours, while other, such as Pavalen, take the better part of the day. Turian's surrender by day one on Councils orders. Hierarchy and Empire governments are not on good terms, as are a good majority of the Turian and Airecantian population.

Turians: 3 billion

Airecantians: 12 million

(Low Empire casualties due to speed and surprise of the attacks.)

**May 25, 2602:** The main bulk of UOS forces return to their previous patrols, while they leave small garrisons on the Citadel and Hierarchy planets to protect them until further notice. The first of the Live stations used at the Citadel.

* * *

"What do you make of this?!" One man shouted as he held up a holo pad that held an address from the Citadel Council.

"They threw us out of the Citadel Council! That's what I make of this!" A female official screamed.

"Why would they do such a thing?!" Another voice asked.

"The UOS must have demanded the Systems Alliance as a term for peace. But why would they ask for this?"

"Does it matter?! We're being taken over by this United Nations Space Command! Other humans. That is something I cannot believe!"

"The only explanation would be a lost colony, one that created their own technology. Now they want to unite the rest of the human race with them."

"But they have a planet called Earth! And it mimics our Earth in every way, shape, and form! How do you explain that?!"

"Extensive terraforming!"

"There'd be no use for that! And it would take hundreds of years to have any affect on the planet and countless resources! They'd devastate their economy to fake all this! And you can't explain the same planets in the system!"

"Maybe the Protheans did this. They had an off world outpost on Mars. They could have moved humans from this world as an experiment; see if each humanity reacted the same. Their history has many similarities to ours."

"They're five hundred years ahead on the calendar!"

"What if the Protheans moved this humanity from that Earth to this one? Anyone think of that?!"

"ENOUGH! We are not here to discuss how they came to be. We are here to discuss what we are to do."

"We fight back!"

"Are you insane?! They have a military that rivals that of the Turians, possibly the Asari and the Salarians combined, not to mention their technology, along with nearly a thousand colonies to support a war effort! And let's not forget their allies! Or need I remind you that one of them invaded Hierarchy space and took their colonies and their homeworld?!"

"We can't just let this happen! The System Alliance was created to govern this humanity! This Earth and her colonies!"

"We don't have a choice in the matter! When we were expelled from the Citadel Council, the UOS immediately came to us with this offer. Someone already signed on the dotted line, and we don't have the power to stop this."

"We do have the power to stop this!"

"Who in hell's name signed it?!"

"That would be me." A calm voice spoke.

"M-mister President?"

"Y-you signed it?"

"B-but...why?"

"Because it was for humanities best interest."

"What?"

"You need to see the bigger picture. When the Council threw us out, I wasn't devastated, wasn't surprised, it was what I expected. What I worried about though was that without allies, we were in a terrible position. We've had problems in the past with pirate and slave raids on many of our colonies. We expanded too far and too quickly to have them adequately protect them, and the Council never helped us, even when we asked. What's to stop those raids from increasing now that they know the Council most definitely won't be coming to our rescue? We would be vulnerable to many other powers as well. We'd have to worry about the potential enemies that the UOS have, praying that they didn't have UOS tech. We were in a tight spot, and I made the call. The UNSC might be annexing us, but that's nothing to fret about. We'll be better off in the UNSC, and to the extension of the United Orion Systems then we would be in the Council."

"What makes you think that Mister President?"

"The only reason we were even offered the chance to join the Citadel Council was to avoid a war between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. They wanted us on a leash. Now the new kid in town wants the dog, and the Council would like nothing more then to get rid of this beast that they didn't want in the first place."

"SSV Warsaw has fired on UNSC ships in orbit!"

"On who's authority?!"

"No ones ma'am! All Alliance ships are engaging the UNSC fleet!"

"Damn it! All System Alliance ships, cease fire, I repeat, cease fire! Stop this!"

"Hell no sir! These bastards came out of nowhere and now want to take the government?! I may disagree with a few Alliance policies, but there's no way in hell I'm letting them take over. What the hell's going to happen to my family?! I have a wife and three kids goddamn it!" The captain shouted.

"We're not letting some government we've only just heard of dictate our lives for us!" Another one added.

"We've taken three cruisers out!"

"Hah! Take that you sons of bitches!"

"Wait! Oh hell, we have more ruptures! Seventy new contacts! Jesus, they have six 5 kilometer ships!"

"Damn! We have more! Three hundred new contacts! Five kilometers, twelve kilometers, twenty eight, fifty four, my god, one hundred forty four kilometer ship!"

"We can't take those numbers! Fuck!"

"We've lost contact with Warsaw!"

"They're still here! They've been hit in the engine block! They won't be helping anyone today!"

"Half the Alliance fleet had been disabled! God, what the hell?!"

"We've received word from other colonies that the UNSC had deployed ground forces. No violence has occurred, but they don't want any. All ground forces are standing down."

The hall was silent; the only thing breaking it was the frantic calls of System Alliance ship commanders. The president glanced at all of the government officials, his eyes showing no hint of emotion.

"This might of ended my political career, but that doesn't matter. This is what the System Alliance needs. When they come, we let them in."

He simply walked out of the building without a second glance.

* * *

The Systems Alliance is informed by the Citadel Council that the other members of the Citadel have voted on the evection of their government. Shocked, the Systems Alliance go to the only other galactic power they know of; the United Orion System. They are accepted and are annexed into the UNSC. Many Alliance citizens and government officials protest the annexation, but the UNSC reassure them that they will retain most of their government's policies and that the Alliance will still be represented. Riots emerge on many Alliance colonies and a small battle erupts in the orbit of the Systems Alliance earth, now known as Terra, when an Alliance cruiser fires on UNSC ships in orbit. All System Alliance ships are disabled, with the UNSC losing five frigates. After, the Systems Alliance gives in when a joint UOS fleet of 389 occupy Terra's orbit. The UNSC is now represented by two individuals, and add fifty more colonies in their map.

The Sangheili Republic, Council of Five, and the Allied Confederacy unite their governments and create the Syndicate of United Races, or SUR, as a better way to coordinate their military and economic power.

**July 19, 2603:** The Asari Republic release information to the Empire about a lost Empire colony. The Empire immediately reclaims the planet, known as Kaspin. They turn it into a literal 'Garden' world, but leave the corpses of Empire ships as they are, turning the graveyard into a memorial. Millions come to the opening, with a surprising amount of Turian military commanders and soldiers who help the Airecantians with the opening. One commander commented. "We may be different in many ways, and many of us may hate the Airecantians, but we know when to put petty grudges aside when honoring the dead. These men and women earned that at the very least."

**January 1, 2604:** UOS transports are being raided by all three major mercenary groups, as well as slavers with increasing number. The raids prove fruitless, as many detonate their ships if nothing else can be done.

Tire One technology is being applied in all fields in the UOS. Military ships now use blends of Forerunner metals for hauls, armor, and weaponry. Hardlight shields, neural interfaces, and other equipment are included. Nanotechnology is enhanced further, now used as a secondary immune system for UOS citizens, while fixing dead cells, though this is in a very small scale. Life expectancies are estimated around five hundred for humans, eight for Elites and Brutes, four hundred for Grunts, unknown for Hunters, and adds two hundred years to the Airecantian five thousand.

Emperor Keresk becomes the first 'true' Airecantian biotic after second hand exposure to Ezzo while on a tour of Thressia to ease tensions between the Citadel and UOS. He shows enough skill to use even biotic attacks, though they are very weak. The Empire puts more Capital into the study of enhancing biotic ability more so then older System Alliance amps. The UNSC offer to help and the Empire accept gratefully.

**February 14, 2604:** The UOS open trade routes with the Citadel.

**March 21, 2604:** The Empire celebrates the anniversary of Alito Keresk and Maykial Keresk, as well as the Emperor's birthday. Celebrations are expected to last throughout the month, with many events planned. The Empire invites many UOS and Citadel officials to the celebration, and many do visit Aircant to congratulate the Emperor and Empress.

**April 11, 2605:** The Bartarin Hegemony send colony ships to a planet they planed on colonizing, only to find Empire colony ships that had arrived only hours before them. They demand that the Empire leave the planet before they bomb them from orbit with their escorts. The Empire responds with a single Fortress-Class and threaten the destruction of the colony fleet if they did not leave. The Bartarins leave, but this event increases the tension between the Empire and Hegemony, who have been furiously colonizing every planet they find in the Skylline Verge, surpassing the former Systems Alliance.

The Empire increase military and colonization efforts as a baby boom hits the UOS. In three months alone, a hundred colonies have been created, their populations in the millions. The Empire Capital Airecant has a population of 27 trillion alone.

**July 5, 2605:** The UOS create the Biotic Implant One or BIOne (Bi-own) for short. It enhances biotic abilities differently for different races. It seems to have a greater effect on humans and Airecantians. The Empire begins work on a newer BI implant exclusively for Airecantians, while others do the same for their respective races.

The UOS produce their first hardlight Omni-tools and begin selling. They're a huge hit in UOS and Citadel space, but are a nightmare for companies such as Serrice Council, a high end Omni-tool producer. The Empire produces their own hardlight Omni-tool for military use only, creating it in a way to which it will not interfere with Airecantian swords and shields.

**February 27, 2606:** Bartarian terrorist set off a Havoc grade nuclear warhead on one of the Empire's newer colonies, Alucard. The terrorist are killed in the resulting explosion, with the UOS death toll in the high thousands, with many more injured. The Empire claim the Hegemony financed the terrorist, but the Bartarians are quick to denounce it. Since no evidence can be found, the Citadel can do nothing. The Empire announce that if they find a Bartarin ship in their territory, they will regard it as hostile and respond with deadly force, regardless if it be civilian or military. This increases tensions further, with the Empire focusing colonization efforts in the Skylline Verge, denying the Bartarians colonies. The Hegemony protest once again about the colonization of the Verge, but the argument falls on deaf ears.

Attacks similar to the event above are becoming frequent on many UOS colonies, though not at the same scale as of yet.

* * *

**April 2, 2608:** Present. Panthalassa Nebula, Thalassic System. Orbit of Airecant.

Airecant; the Capital of the Airecantian Empire, and the birth place of the Airecantians and Tallorians. The planet itself was the size of four Jupiters, it's entire surface covered by a Ecumenopolis, with the only water on the planet under its crust. All native wildlife was moved onto one of Airecants twenty moons, ranging from the size on Luna, to three times the size of the UNSC fortress world Reach. Despite it's large population and surface spanning city, the atmosphere was a very clear, due to machines that were basically, 'giant air filters', on all funnels that emitted some kind of harmful chemical. There were very few, as Airecant had switched to nuclear, solar, and high energy physics nearly two thousand years ago. This planet was known to all by name, not by location. The Airecantian Empire had been careful about giving any info about the planets coordinates. The procedure to getting to the Capital was much like Alpha Capital; only certain ships could take you there, and they made sure that the planet could never be compromised.

Thousands of ships orbited the enormous planet, with many being transports, selling goods to Airecant, as well as civilian yachts and military vessels such as the Leviathan Battle Platform. The planet had an artificial ring, one that mimicked the Halo rings exactly, only it was half completed. Military vessels were going to and fro form the ring. Comparing the Leviathan to the artificial superstation was what a 144 km ship looked like to an ant.

The atmosphere itself was surrounded by a Mass Effect barrier, not as a form of protection, but for emergency landings for other ships who's Mass Effect generators had malfunctioned. this would allow the ship, and anyone on it, to survive the high gravity of the planet for a short hour until their Mass Effect generators could be replaced. The barrier would encase anything that passed through it with the same effect as the generators would.

A lone station, no larger then a fighter, flouted in the orbit of the planet, acting as an early warning system if anything were to happen. Only two people could fit in the small station at one time, and they normally worked 48 hour shifts.

"Anything new?" One asked as he sipped his coffee. It was morning on this side of the planet.

"Some more supplies from Karon." The women said. "I don't know why we do this sir. Would anyone really attack Airecant? We have the strongest and largest fleet in the galaxy, the only ones able to match it being the Tallorians back a thousand years ago. Besides, all this could be done by an AI."

"Youth these days. Getting lazy with all this tech." The older man said. The 15 year old women simply shrugged, but went back to work.

"Hold on. Something's not right here."

"What do you have?"

"Sensors are picking up a blue-shift. Only one. It's obvious it uses a Mass Effect drive. But why just one?" The women said.

"Are the sensors working properly?" The man asked, now taking his station.

"I checked them yesterday, they're perfect. Certainly better the crap we use to use." She commented.

"The crap we used before saved Airecant from the Tentues Blitz when the emperor was only a millennia old. Had that 'crap' not been here, this world would have been a nuclear wasteland." The man stated harshly.

"Oh, here they come."

In the distance, a few kilometers away from the station, a ship exited FTL. The ship the two saw before them was not of any model they had seen before. They were taught what Citadel ships looked like, but this one didn't fit the bill on any. It was large, and rather looked like a ball, almost like _Alpha Capital_, with the exception of a small tail hanging on the back of the ship.

"Doesn't match any Citadel ships we know of. IFF isn't Citadel either. Give me a sec." The woman said, turning different knobs.

"It's Quarian." The man said. How did the Quarians get here? Why were they here?

"It's making its way into the atmosphere. I think they're going to attack!" The women shouted.

"Calm down! That's a live ship, they don't carry weapons."

"Ok, so it doesn't have weapons. But why is it still heading towards the-Christ alive!" She shouted as the rear of the ship detonated, setting fire to the art portion of the ship. Smaller explosions peppered the hall on multiple areas. Soon the ship itself was on fire.

"They must have had a problem with something. They've lost motor control and are descending rapidly." She replied.

"Impact course?"

"Straight for the Emperor's palace!"

"Damn it! Inform them to evacuate the palace and the surrounding area." The man keyed his comms unit if civilian frequency.

"Any available ships, I need your assistance."

"What are you doing?" The women asked.

"I have an idea."

"Station Helo-nine-four-Bravo, this is UNSC freighter _Who's Your Daddy_. We see the situation, how can we help?"

"_Who's Your Daddy_, I need you to push the live ship off course to another location. I'm sending you the coordinates of a construction site. You need to move the ship there and we should suffer very low casualties or none at all. If this isn't done, tens of thousands could die, including the royal family."

"Got it! _Who's Your Daddy_, out."

"I pray this works." He said, watching the UNSC freighter streak towards the live ship.

* * *

**Quarian Liveship '_Rayya_'**

"Put that fire out now! I need kinetic barriers back online!" Rael'Zorah shouted as the fire raged on the bridge. Damn those Bartarians. The Margrent Fleet had been passing by Hegemony territory for a few days, and it just so happened that that when he was about to enter the relay, the Bartarians had attacked without warning. The heavy fleet had stayed behind the fend them off, but not before his ship had taken some fire. He was forced to jump FTL to an unknown location. The FTL drive had taken a hit beforehand, and had somehow sent them a few hundred lightyears instead of the normal fifteen, and had just so happened to send them to an occupied planet, and the damage the Bartarian ship had done was much worse then he thought. The Mass Effect core had overloaded, but amazingly hadn't destroyed the entire ship. Now he just needed the ship to stay intact long enough to survive the landing.

"Admiral, we have a vessel incoming, not military! They're on an intercept course!"

"Barriers are back up!" Another Quarian shouted.

"Intercept course? What are they...oh Keelah, all hands brave for impact!"

All hands were thrown to the floor, regardless if they were in a seat, or if they were use to major movement on a ship. Kinetic barriers and hardlight shields flared as the two ships made contact, with the freighter slowly pushing the live ship.

* * *

"Come on! Nudge 'um! Nudge 'um goddamn it! They can't hit High Capital!" Shouted the human Captain. He and his crew were desperately trying to push this thing off course. If they didn't succeed, thousands, possibly millions, could die from the impact of one of these things. The main thought in the Captains mind was how he was to move the Live ship. His ship had much more power then the Live ship, but that ship had mass. He was small compared to the thing!

"Keep pushing! Even if the thing doesn't survive, we need it at that construction site!" He shouted.

The ship shuddered again as it made contact with the Live ship once again, now the blue barriers of the Live ship shattering. As _Who's Your Daddy _kept pushing, the ship began to rapidly change course, more so then was possible.

The Live ships' port side detonated, now exposing the lower half of the interior to space. The explosion gave the ship enough push to send it to the right, now spiraling towards the construction site.

"Oh Lordy." The Captain said. "Didn't mean for that to happen. What's our statues?"

"Shields are at twenty percent. We have multiple haul breaches, and have already sealed appropriate bulkheads. We lost half of our cargo." His comms said.

"That's...not as bad as I though it would have been."

"Don't worry about the cargo _Who's Your Daddy_." The Airecantian EWS officer buzzed on the ships comms. "The Empire will pay for the damage your ship has suffered, and triple what you were expecting from your profits."

"Well, much obliged. Just hope those poor SOB's live." The Captain replied.

* * *

**High Capital: Palace**

The palace of the Airecantian Empire was one of the largest and oldest buildings on the planet. It was twenty square miles, made of metals that could take 57 megaton explosives. The walls of the palace were five stories high, built is a zigzag form, with the top spiked, glowing purple and smelling of ozone, indicating that the spikes were plasma heated. There were many buildings of various sizes in the palace, but three stood out.

In the center, stood the main palace, were the royal family lived, which took ten square miles alone, and reaching three kilometers into the sky, the building shaped much like an Egyptian pyramid, shining clear silver. Two more building were on the side of the main palace, which were shaped much like two handed Dark Age swords, matching the pyramid in height. They served more as lookout and gun towers to defend the palace from possible attack. They carried a wide range of weapons. From anti-personal, to anti-ship, the palace was much more a fortress then anything else.

The palace was currently being evacuated. Though the palace could take tremendous amounts of punishment, the occupants could not. Airecantian Imperial Guards were running to and fro, making sure the royal family was out of harms way. Most of the family was already at a safe location, except for one.

"Has the Volus representative been evacuated?" Keresk asked. He was currently in his robes. A uniform that much matched that of UNSC Admirals in the color royal blue, with gold shoulder protecters that held his flowing blood red cape. His gold crown was still on his head, matching that of kings in the human Middle Ages, the exception of a starfighter situating itself on the front of the crown.

"They've already made it to their envoy. We have three squadrons assigned to them. Now Emperor please, we need to get you away from here." One Imperial Guard said.

"I'm the last out. Until this area is devoid of civilian life, I will stay here." Keresk said, crossing his arms while watching multiple civilian yachts and ships lifting from the area.

"The north! Ship's coming from the north!" Another shouted.

All eyes went high north, were the shape of Live ship could be made out of the cloud layer over that part of the city. Seconds later, the ship itself came into view, multiple fires raging on its haul. It continued its plummet, and gave a few people heart attacks when it passed over the palace.

"Down!" One Guard called as he pulled Keresk down.

The Live ship made contact with the main palace, the ship gutting itself as the tip of the pyramid dug into its undercarriage, throwing large sheets of metal and Quarians at the ground and into the air. It managed to keep itself together instead of split in half as it made contact with the construction site only a few miles away.

As the ship skidded across the ground, a few miles ahead of it, a large barrier was activated, with a mile of ground behind it before it would reach the newly constructed buildings that were in use only minutes ago.

When the Live ship made contact with the barriers, the ship kept surging forward, though now, the barrier was stretching, wrapping around the ship itself, slowing it down rapidly, only slowing it to travel a few hundred meters before it moved backward, and into a position in front of the barrier.

Ships of small size began flocking to the crash site. Keresk was the first to stand, and to give a command.

"Get my ship. We're going to help those Quarians."

* * *

"Uh... S-statues?" Rael'Zorah groaned as he lifted himself, clutching his now broken ribs.

"I don't even know Admiral." One Quarian said, checking one of the many bodies on the bridge. She shook her head, and then repeated the process with others.

"Do we know where we are at least?"

"All we know is this planet is heavily industrialized. The entire planet is one city."

"The only planet I know that has that kind of geography is Airecant."

"We have smaller ships incoming. Hundreds of them. Colored white, red, and blue." One said, and true enough, hundreds of ships were coming their direction.

"Must be medical." Rael stated.

And at that, twenty of the ships landed a few feet form the crash site, and multiple people jumped out of the medical vehicles and began running towards the ship.

"Es Кажlle in Ordnάξει?!" The Airecantians shouted.

"Oh crap. We can't understand them."

"Does anyone speak an earth language of any kind? I heard that the Airecantian language is a mixture of human languages." Rael asked.

"I know Spanish, took it as an occupation. I'll give it a shot." One female Quarian said, walking in front of the group.

"Español?" She asked.

"Sí. ¿Qué es lo que necesita?" One Airecanian asked.

"Tenemos múltiples heridos, no sé cuántos muertos. Buscar por todo el barco y tenga cuidado. Es necesario tener nuestro sistema inmunológico en pensamiento." She answered.

"Hemos esterilizado vehículos listos y si es necesario esterilizar las habitaciones de los hospitales locales. Hemos tomado las precauciones necesarias para su salud." He replied.

"Gracias." She said. The Airecantian nodded, then motioned with his head to the rest of the medical staff. They all famed out, stopping at Quarians and helping them in anyway they could.

"Imperратор Есть Εισερχchozí!" One Airecantian shouted, pointing at a sleek, dark ship that nearly plummeted to the ground, stopping two feet short, then gently touching the ground. Out came a man who wore rather expensive clothing, with what looked like a crown.

"I...I think that's the Emperor. Keresk was his name." Someone stated.

"Why is he here?" Another groaned. Keresk ran up the destroyed ship, stopping short of Rael'.

"Who's the Captain of this ship?" He spoke in perfect Khelish.

"I am." Real' answered.

"Broken ribs, suit puncture. We need to take you to medical." Keresk answered, removing Rael's hand from his ribs, showing purple liquid on his hand even when the suit had clamped down on the area.

Rael' nearly shouted. He had just remembered something. "Wait! Check engineering, my wife and daughter are in there!"

Keresk grimaced. He had seen the area where engineering once was. "I'll send someone to investigate."

"Your son is already there Emperor." An Imperial Guard said.

Keresk furrowed his eyebrows, but nodded. "Of course he is. I swear, he's more like me then he is his mother." He placed a finger on his comm. "Kilel, you are to search the area for survivors, but Admiral Rael's wife and child are the priority."

"Understood father." He replied. Keresk grasped Rael's arm and slung it around his shoulders. "Time for you to leave."

"I must stay h-" Keresk cut Rael' off.

"I admire your attitude but your immune system wouldn't allow it. We'll take care of everyone else, rest assured. Your wife and daughter will be found."

'Alive I hope.' He thought as he trudged his way to a vehicle.

* * *

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Kilel shouted, walking through the debris, occasionally stopping by Qurian bodies to check for life. As of now, he hadn't found any living thing, but that wasn't a surprise. He continued to search, also digging through piles to find someone underneath.

"Is anyone here? Anyone at all?"

"Help me!" He heard a muffled cry. He paused.

"Hello?"

"Help me!" She cried again.

"Keep calling! I'll find you!" He began circling the area.

"Please!" The voice was under him. He jumped off the pile and dug franticly, throwing large pieces of metal off with one hand before finding a visored face, glowing eyes staring back at him.

"Are you alright?" He spoke gently.

"My..." She winced a little. "My leg hurts." Her voice was shaky, and he could imagine tears falling behind that visor.

"Ok. Don't move." He glanced around the pile. "I'll get you out of there." He dug more carefully, trying not to hurt the girl. He began a conversation. "What's your name?"

"Tali Zorah nar Rayya." She answered quietly. She gently pushed at a metal beam that trapped her left arm, and Kilel pulled the thing away.

"How old are you?"

"Eight."

"Alright." He pulled a rather large piece, but it didn't budge. "My name is Kilel Keresk. I'm a prince."

"Really?" Tali seemed intrigued.

"Yeah. I'm a prince." He tugged the metal again. "Can you move if I lift this?" She glanced at the metal piece, then her leg, and nodded. He quickly lifted the metal, his arms shaking in the effort, and she quickly crawled under it before he threw the wall away, a few meters away.

"Let me look at that leg. Tell me if it hurts." He glanced at her leg, which looked fine, and pressed his hand against it, she immediately pulled away, gripping her leg and giving a small yelp.

'Broken.' He thought. "Your leg is injured. I'm going to take to to the doctor to fix it, ok?" Tali nodded, and Kilek picked her up before making his way out of the debris field.

"You know where you mom is?"

"No. I saw her over there before everything fell." She pointed at what was left of a control panel, sparking a little.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

"Yes! I'm here!" Another voice cried. Kilel gently put Tali down before starting to dig. A few minutes later, the female Quarian was free. She advanced on Tali, taking her into her arms.

"Thank the Ancestors you're alright." She clung to the girl, then slowly turned to Kilel. "Thank you for helping my baby."

"Mommy, I'm not a baby." Dispute the situation, Tali seemed determined to make her mother discontinue using the term 'baby'.

"There is no need to thank me. Now if you can come with me. You two are injured and must be taken to a hospital. We have sterile rooms ready for you."

"What about Rael'?" She asked quietly.

"He is alive. He was taken to Keresk Veteran Hospital. I'll send you there." Kilel replied, calming her.

"Prince!" One Airecantian medical personal shouted. "Any survivors?"

"These two so far. Take them to Keresk Veteran, another family member is there. I'll stay and continue searching." Kilel replied, already turning.

"Yes prince. I'll have five others assist you." The man quickly tapped his white hardlight omni-tool.

"Thank you."

"Ma'am, if you could follow me please." The man motioned with his hand, taking hold of the Tali's mom's waist to give her an anchor on the uneven ground. She let the man lead her to the medical vehicle, and he helped her into the gel bed. He quickly closed the backdoors and the ship began flying quickly. He pulled two long needles out and stuck both Tali and her mother with them, then placed a sealing agent on the the punctures.

"A little something to deal with the pain." He gave them a smile. "How's the little one?"

"My leg." She repeated. It didn't bother her now, but she knew something was wrong with it.

"Don't worry princess, we'll get that fixed in no time." He reassured.

* * *

"How many dead?" Keresk asked.

"Too soon to say Emperor. We've found a few hundred dead so far, more injured. Give us a day or two and we can give you an accurate number." His Imperial Guard stated. His weapons were holstered, with the Guard's armed crossed, glancing at the medical personnel and uninjured Quarians that were digging around the destroyed ship. "Your son has found the Admirals daughter and wife, they've been sent to the Keresk Veteran."

"Good. Their deaths would have devastated Rael'. Were they injured badly?"

"The girl took the worst of it. She might have a broken leg. Rael's wife was just battered and bruised. Some pain in her head, but they'll live." He tapped his Omni-tool, nodding to himself.

"Have you found the fleet?" Keresk glanced at the rail above the Guard that was hanging by a literal thread.

"We'd send then messages on all frequencies in Khelish telling them to meet us at Monkoldon. They'd make the ten day trip by piggybacking on our slipspace ruptures. We'll hand them back their people, and you'll have the opportunity to begin diplomatic relations with the Margret Fleet."

"Though I wish it was under better circumstances, I welcome this. We've been looking for them since the end of the Aire-Turian War. They've been evading us either purposely or just by coincidence." Keresk stated, pulling the Guard towards him as the metal rail fell on the mans' previous position.

The guard didn't seemed bothered, actually more annoyed that the beam nearly killed him, more or less. "Thank you Emperor."

"I can see when I'm not needed anymore. I want you to stay here, help coordinate with the Quarians. Send word to the Volus ambassador that he can return to the palace to continue our earlier discussion. And I want my son back at the palace." Keresk said as he began walking to his ship.

"Yes Emperor." The guard nodded.

* * *

"I'm not going. I'm stay-"

"Sorry prince." Two Imperial Guard were pushing Kilel into a ship that was to take him back to the palace. "Your father's orders, and unfortunately for you, his voice carries more weight then yours. You're going back to the palace prince, weather you like it or not."

"Damn it. Alright, alright." He claimed in the ship. "I'm going." The ship quickly took to the sky and took to the direction of the palace, only a few kilometers away.

Kilel's Omni-tool made a 'ping' noise, notifying Kilel of a message he had received. He quickly tapped it and began to read.

"Bartarians complaining of Skylline Verge again, pirate raid with no survivors on either side, Tallorian pirates? That's new. Some minor skirmishes with Alliance Resistance. Construction of Memorial park is pending, just need to clear out some of the older buildings in the area." He read down the list, finding one that caught his attention.

"SIGMA AI Balmto infiltrated STG data base and..." His eyes widened as he read the message. He had to read it again and then a third time to get it through.

"The bastards!" Kilel cursed. His father wasn't going to like this.

Not one bit.

* * *

**Before people start questioning why there was barely any political argument was because the Systems Alliance can't do anything about it. The UOS and UNSC want the Systems Alliance, and there's nothing stopping them to take it, by force if necessary.  
**

**The Airecantian language, Airian, is a mixed form of all human languages, though it relies heavily on Russian, Spanish, Italian, and Czech. **

**Language: Spanish (rough translation)**

**"Sí. ¿Qué es lo que necesita?"= **Yes. What do you need?

**"Tenemos múltiples heridos, no sé cuántos muertos. Buscar por todo el barco y tenga cuidado. Es necesario tener nuestro sistema inmunológico en pensamiento."= **We have multiple injuries. Unknown how many are dead. We need medical attention to all that have injuries associated with suit punctures.

**"Hemos esterilizado vehículos listos y si es necesario esterilizar las habitaciones de los hospitales locales. Hemos tomado las precauciones necesarias para su salud."= **We have sterilized ready vehicles and if necessary starilized rooms at local hospitals. We have taken the necessary precautions for their health.

**Language: Airian (Airecantian)**

**"Es Кажlle in Ordnάξει?!"**= Is everyone alright?!

**"Imperратор Есть Εισερχchozí!"**= Emperor is incoming!

**Tentues Blitz- **A Tallorian offensive. Tallorians had narrowed down the location of Airecant to three systems and attacked all three. The Blitz, contrary to it's name, lasted for two months before the Tallorians were pushed back. Though the battle was costly for both sides, the Airecatians fared better, having a rather large number of their ships survive the battle. It was known as one of the largest and bloodiest battles in the Belkan War, with the Battle of Installation 07 second to it.


End file.
